BFFS dress in fleece

Puperita's BFFS dress pattern is designed for woven fabric. I loved a woven version I made for my little girlie a few months ago. I think this pattern works just as well in a knit.

This mustard cotton/polyester fleece was purchased from Spotlight a couple of years ago for another pattern by Puperita - the Tiger jacket. I managed to find complimenting cotton knit for the lining, purple ribbing for the cuffs and even a purple zipper! Fabric was pre-washed, pattern was printed out... I was heavily pregnant with Miss L at the time. She decided to arrive early and spoilt my sewing plans. How inconsiderate of her, really! I never made that jacket.

When temperatures began to drop this winter I realised my big girlie had almost nothing to wear! So I pulled the fleece and cotton knit out and instead of a jacket I made them into a dress. I had no idea if it would work. I just felt adventurous and since sewing woven patterns in knits works for Mie and Ines, I decided to give it a go too.

I was not too sure what size to make. Miss R still fits into size 5, but she traditionally goes through a significant growth spurt in the middle of winter. I decided to play it safe and settled on size 6 width and lengthened the pattern by 5 cm to accommodate Miss R's height. This is a standard procedure when I sew for Miss R. I lengthened the bodice by 3 cm right under the armscyes and the skirt by 2 cm at the hem.

The bodice of the original pattern is fully lined. I decided to partially line my dress with cotton knit I was going to use for the lining of the jacket. I didn't think to take a photos of the lining. The fabric can be seen in this photo on Instagram.

The original pattern offers a button placket closure at the back. I was concerned my fabric was too bulky for that, so I completely omitted it by cutting the back pattern piece on fold using the back centre line as my guide.

I created a slit at the back to make sire the dress would easily go over Miss R's head. Too easy! Miss R's hear is covering a button and a loop closure.

In these photos Miss R is wearing one of the Safari raglan tees I made her last year. A gorgeous purple cardigan knitted by my mum kept her warm before and after the photos-shoot :) I simply love this colour combination!

Miss R is happy with her new warm dress. I love it too. In fact I was so pleased with this experiment I repeated it shortly after on another one of Puperita's patterns... But I will leave that story for another blog post!