A purple knit wrap dress for a girl

I have a stash reduction plan for 2012. Shop my stash before going to the fabric store, and sew like crazy. I am sure all four of my children and my DH are rolling their eyes, or possibly rolling on the floor at these words, but I actually am making some progress. Like this cute knit dress I finished for my youngest DD the other day. I used a purple cotton lycra knit that has been aging in my studio for a good long while. The only downside of this fabric is the dress weighs about 20 pounds, and will probably take 3 days to hang dry! I cannot remember exactly when or where I bought this fabric (always a bad sign, eh? 😉 ), but I am moderately sure it was 5+ years ago in Shanghai. Or not. At any rate, I had enough to cut out MOST of Vogue 8379, but not enough for the belt. A design opportunity!

What you can’t see from this photo is that the purple edging on the belt is made up of teeny-tiny lengths of purple scraps sewn together to create a long enough strip to go around both ties. T-E-D-I-O-U-S. The black edging around the neck was much easier because I didn’t need to piece it, and it makes the contrast belt look like it was planned, right?

While I was making it I was really hating the annoyance of the belt, but I think it turned out cute and very wearable. And she likes it, so that is always a plus! Not to mention it is one less piece of fabric and one less project still sitting in my sewing studio!

Happy sewing!

Maris Olsen