#sewcanada Archives - Lulu & Celeste

First off, I just want to say

Happy Canada Day!!

It’s so much fun being a part of blog tours, and since this one celebrates all sewing things Canadian I was extra happy to be taking part.

Disclaimer: I was provided with Cecily pattern for free from Pollywoggles. Thank you! All opinions are my own of course.

The Cecily dress is such a sweet dress. I wish I had gotten better (and more!) photos of it but unfortunately I had chosen 6-year-old Silly Bean as my model and oddly she’s less cooperative than her nearly-3-year-old sister Miss V. But it was her turn to have something made for her as I had just finished a dress for Miss V.

The pattern features full circle skirt and a tie back (which you can see in the photo below). It comes in sizes 12-18 months all the way up to size 10. The circle skirt provides maximum twirl, while the tie back and elastic back waist allows for easy dressing!

I love how the dress turned out!

I had the hardest time choosing fabrics. I wanted something floral and sweet with pink, because Silly Bean loves flowers and pink of course! I decided to go out of my comfort zone and I actually mixed prints! Usually I stick to a single fabric or at the very least use fabrics from the same collection that coordinate. I used Emma’s Garden from Clothworks for the main skirt in the tan colourway. For the sash I upcycled fabric from an old shirt, and the top pink fabric is a lightweight fabric from my stash. The pink is somewhat see-through and has slightly more see-through dots so I double layered the front bodice.

Fun detail: this dress can be made reversible! I contemplated doing that but it took me far too long to decide on the fabrics for one side, ha. If it’s made reversible all the seams are hidden!

Modifications made:

I sewed a size 5 bodice to a size 6 length skirt (keeping the waist opening of the 5). I also added an extra layer to the front bodice, but treated it as one layer by basting two front bodices together. Also, since I didn’t make it reversible the suggestions are to add a bias trim but I instead did a narrow hem. I basically did method #1 in this post by By Hand London.

Final thoughts:

The pattern was a little tricky, I would say it’s geared for intermediate sewists. Attaching the skirt to the bodice is a teensy bit tricky but it’s not super difficult. Getting the circle skirt evenly attached to the waistband was a bit tricky as well.

Honestly, the pictures don’t do this dress justice. It is so pretty in person! I definitely recommend this Pollywoggles pattern if you have some girly girls who love to twirl to sew for! 🙂

Hey did I mention there was a giveaway? Well, there is just scroll on down a little bit more!

Since this is a Canada Day celebration and all, you should check out the Canadian Flag inspired Maple Leaf Mug Rug I shared last year that was based on my Maple Leaf Mug Rug tutorial.