Groovy baby: Butterick 4273

Thanks everyone for your positive and encouraging comments on my entry into the Tessuti Awards. The finalists were announced and sadly I'm not one of them - the ones that were selected are really outstanding and look like they came off a catwalk. I know that my dress is sewn perfectly, but it was very bland compared to the others because I sew what I like to wear, which I guess is the difference between a home sewist and a fashion designer. And let's face it, I didn't exactly spend a long time planning it and working on it did I? But as Vicki pointed out I do have a great dress, winner or not. And Meredith I'll definitely have to organise an occasion to wear this dress, as fancy cocktail parties are not a regular occurrence in my social life these days!

I've been feeling a little burnt out after that frantic bout of sewing, although it was exhilarating at the time and it's good to know if there's ever a sewing emergency I could probably conquer it in a short time! But I needed something simple to recharge, and since Anna has been asking me for a new dress every time I bring something new out of my sewing room it was about time I made her something.  And now she's become even more clever at asking, picking out a pattern using my ipad and putting in specific requests for how she wants it to turn out. So I let her pick out some fabric from the stash and quickly whipped up a dress for her so I can get back to my own sewing.

She picked out Butterick 4273 (now OOP) which is just a simple a-line dress with embellishment options and this rather loud pink and purple paisley print cotton fabric that has been a long term stash resident, origin long since forgotten (and possibly a vintage fabric given that it's only 90cm wide and the print is very 70s):

I did double and triple check with her that she understood that this wasn't a twirly dress pattern because I didn't want to hear any complaints about it being 'broken' later on, but she told me in a very serious voice that she would wear it on days she didn't feel like twirling. She's getting to be so grown up in her mannerisms now! But it didn't stop her having fun, twirling or not:

Because the fabric print is so busy I didn't add any embellishments or pockets, and I literally made this in about 90 minutes including cutting out and finishing. So I have no excuses not to make a few more really.

The fabric she picked out is quite a sturdy cotton, but is not really a winter fabric so it needed to be worn over a few layers, but it certainly brightens up a cold winter day don't you think?