Hot pink Uptown/Downtown dress

Have you ever waited to sew a pattern you absolutely adored until you had perfect fabric for it? The Uptown/Downtown dress by Sew Straight & Gather was such a project for me.

I have been admiring Uptown/Downtown dresses popping up all around the sewing blogland. I love the shape of the dress and the options the pattern in conjunction with the extension pack provide. This seemed a perfect project on my journey to conquer the fear of knits.

The pattern was on some crazy sale one day so I bought it. And then nothing happened for quite some time. Why? Because I did not have suitable fabric to make a dress. The pattern calls for at least 30-60% stretch knit fabric. I did not have anything that would match that description in the print that my picky (not to say fussy) young customer would approve.

Towards the end of last year my friend Renee introduced me to MaaiDesign, an Australian based on-line fabric shop. Maaike had a lot of fabric in her shop that I absolutely loved, but... You see, I need to feel fabric. I need to see what the colours really look like. I can't trust a picture and a description on my screen. This is why I never purchased fabric online before.

While I was browsing through knit section on Maaike's website R came to check out fabrics also. She pointed at Artie Pink by Froy & Dind and asked if I could buy some of that fabric to make her a dress. I told my daughter I would think about it, however to be honest with you I was not going to buy anything. A few days later my girlie asked if I have bought any of the pink fabric yet because she really wanted me to make her a new dress. Still feeling not too convinced I sent a message to Maaike asking for a little more info about the fabric my daughter loved so much. Maaike turned out to be a lovely person to talk to and offered to send a sample pack. R knew what to do with it :)

I liked the feel of the samples and decided to commit to my first on-line fabric purchase. My big girlie was so excited when the package arrived! While she was sleeping I finally made an Uptown/Downtown dress for my sweet R.

Sewing the dress was an absolute breeze. I opted for a sleeveless dress as we were heading towards a long and hot summer. I made a size 4 across chest with size 5 (or was it 6?) length. The only thing I changed was the method of sewing the outer layer and the lining together. I did not trust myself and was a little worried I would end up stretching fabric if I followed the instructions provided in the pattern and used a so called 'burrito' method instead. It looks as if I still managed to stretch the fabric a little while sewing. Oops!

This simple dress made my daughter very happy. I had to beg her to take it off when I tried it on her to determine the length while I was still working on it. That's always a good sign.

R finally got to wear her Uptown/Downtown dress on Christmas day. We usually spend Christmas with my husband's family. Last Christmas was not an exception. As I was getting baby L ready I could hear R run into a room where my husband's relatives were gathering, saying, 'Look at my new twirly dress!' I cannot put in words how happy this little comment made me feel. I have made many things for my daughter, and she was happy with most of them. However this was the first time she wanted to show something off in such a cute way.

I am already planning my daughter's Autumn wardrobe, and I can tell you that she will have at least one more Uptown/Downtown dress. But let's chase any thoughts about Autumn away for the time being and enjoy the sun for a few more weeks.