Pretty party dresses

Seriously, how busy is this time of the year? I know Christmas is on the same date every year but these last few weeks of December seem to go by faster each year for me! And why do we feel it necessary to meet up with every single friend and acquaintance during the Christmas season? Next year I vow to have more dinner parties and get togethers in the months of July - October, so I don't feel bad if I can't make each event.

That said though, you know you've hit a bit of a lull in your social life when your nearly four year old has more parties to attend than you do! Aside from a few casual bbq's and a night out with some girlfriends I had no proper Christmas parties to attend and therefore no need for me to sew any pretty party frocks for me this year.  Anna however had two parties last weekend and demanded new dresses to wear to both, which I was happy to oblige because I'm sure the time will come soon enough when she demands I buy her new dresses, not sew them.

Using Style 2168, a 1977 vintage pattern that I've used once before I managed to turn out two dresses in quick succession.

The first is made of a cotton poplin bought from Spotlight from one of their many sales a while back, in an ultra cute pink apple print:

I don't think there's another time in your life when you could wear such a cute fabric and not be considered quirky or eccentric, but it's just right for a little girl who likes to spin and twirl:

The second dress was for a Minnie Mouse birthday party, so naturally I've made it from a red and white polka dot cotton, also from Spotlight (I should consider charging them for advertising for the amount of times they get mentioned here on my blog!):

I finished the neckline and sleeves in white bias tape trim, and also sewed some bias tape around the waist seam too, but since I knew Anna would want to wear this all the time I didn't want it to look too much like a Minnie Mouse costume so I left the trim at that.  Paired with some mouse ears the outfit looked way better than the store bought polyester numbers that the other girls were wearing.  Funnily enough it's the mouse ears that Anna hasn't stopped wearing everywhere and with everything.

So how is everyone else's Christmas preparations coming along? We're hosting a bbq at our house on Saturday so I need to give the house a thorough clean tomorrow as well as start preparing some food.  Thankfully I was realistic enough not to plan to sew many Christmas presents, and I got the one princess dress for Anna finished as well as a few little purses.  Sadly though I doubt I'm going to have time to make my December Burda garment, but oh well there's always next year!