Scalloped Princess dress by Little Kiwis Closet Blog Tour and GIVEAWAY!

I  ♥ the back!

Lydia from Little Kiwi’s Closet was one the first designers I tested patterns for. You can see some of the other patterns I tested for her here and here. There are a couple others I tested but never blogged about! I should get on that!

First off, before you can cut out your pattern and sew it up, you need to choose what kind of bodice to make! There are 4 neckline options and two bodice (bottom) options. There is a scoop neck, square neck, sweetheart neck or V neck; and for bodices you can choose from a princess or scalloped edge. With the different options that means you can make 8 different bodices! Each neckline prints on a separate page and you tape/glue the bodice type to the neckline of your choice.

I chose to do the sweetheart neckline with the princess bodice.

There are also two skirt lengths, below the knee and long, as well as a high-low option. My skirt was supposed to be below the knee but seeing the pictures I realize I sewed it wrong (topstitching the bodice down is a little tricky) and it turned out high-low (but shh! don’t tell anyone it was a mistake and maybe they’ll think it was on purpose. 😉 ) 

I think she’s yelling at her baby sister here.

You also have the choice of a scalloped hem or a simple (straight) hem. I chose to do scalloped, it’s so cute! If you do the scalloped edge you can either do the hem facing to the outside or the inside.

Silly Bean generally wears 4T in RTW tops but for this dress she measured just under the 2Y size. I decided to sew the 3y width with the 4y length. I put the button a little further in to get a better fit and later on I can move the button over slightly. (I know I should sew the size she really is but I keep thinking she’s going to have a sudden growth spurt!) For the skirt, I made sure to do the same 3y width with 4y length.

My fabric was super sheer so I ended up lining the skirt and added an extra layer to the front bodice. For the lining skirt I cut it to the length of the skirt pattern piece after cutting the hem facing piece off. Then after hemming the lining I simply basted it to the main skirt and sewed the two pieces as one.

She wouldn’t take the leggings off for the pictures. :/

For the bodice, I cut an extra front bodice piece out of the lining material and basted the two pieces together and treated them as one front piece.

Overall it’s a great pattern. With all the options you can get a lot of use out of it! Since the skirt is a circle skirt it can take quite a bit of fabric and it can be a little tricky to topstitch the bodice down. But I think the end result is great. I am putting it on my “sew again in the near future” list. 

Pattern details:

• Sizes 12m to 9 years
• Measurements given in both metric and imperial
• Like mentioned above, lots of options! 4 necklines, 2 bodice styles, 3 lengths, 3 hem options. Plus she gives ideas for other mods you can make. She even includes some bodice line drawings so you can draw out your ideas.
• Instructions include clear photos and some line drawings.
• 2 pages of cute tester photos to get inspired by!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour, links are below! (Dates are New Zealand time!)