Bow Back Dress

For my niece's first birthday last month, I made a knit dress:

  I had been eyeing the Bow Back Beauty pattern for quite a while but wasn't sure what the quality would be like, so I hadn't tried it out. However, when it came time to make something knit in a 1-year-old size, I decided it could hardly be worse than the other knit patterns I have in that range! So I bought it.

  While I wouldn't say, 'This is an amazing pattern, you should definitely buy it,' it was quite a lot better than I expected! It has a lot of options, and a large size range. The edges appear to be mostly trued and the grading seems pretty consistent. Although the instructions are photographs, they are clear enough.

  I didn't like that the pattern has to be printed in color, and there were a lot of pages to print... although there were notes about which pages are necessary for which options, and considering that it has a full-circle high-low skirt option in a size 12, 44 pages is pretty decent.

  I made the bow-back onesie option with short sleeves and a below-knee-length skirt in size 12 months (and yes, I ironed that tag a little bit too long).

  Actual measurements are given for the binding pieces, instead of it being a 'stretch as you go and cut off the extra' sort of situation, which I appreciate. The only binding that has a pattern piece is the lower edge of the onesie option. I added heart-shaped snaps, because of course. =)

  I like the finish that I got from following the pattern for the most part... the only part I might change, finish-wise, is the bow center:

  Mostly those bits of edges you can see sticking out here:

  I bought this floral knit at Jo-Ann a couple of years ago, but I didn't have plans for it so I only bought 1/2 yard, which of course ended up really limiting my options! It's one of those interlocks with poor recovery, and the white background peeks through when stretched, but it still worked for this. I used brown serger thread for the sleeve lettuce edging... this fabric doesn't lettuce-edge particularly well though, so I probably should have used one of the other options included in the pattern.

  For the skirt, which is some light pink pretty-nice knit from Girl Charlee, I did pink lettuce edging. It's a little bit lighter than the skirt but was much better than the brown! The skirt looked too long for a crawler, so I shortened it by 2" before hemming, and the proportions seemed a lot better. I haven't heard back yet whether or not the dress fit though, and the original length would probably be better for a walker.

  I used the pink knit for all of the bindings, and finished them with a stretch twin needle and wooly nylon in the bobbin... they still tunneled quite a bit, but at least the stitches aren't going to snap!

  To add a bit of interest to the front, I added a simple machine-stitched heart applique to the front of the skirt.

  I used heat-and-bond light to stick it to the skirt before doing a tight zig-zag around the edges, but I wish I'd stabilized the skirt fabric with something too, and practiced a bit more on scraps first... it's pretty wobbly!

  I still had the wooly nylon in the bobbin, so I'm curious if the stitching will hold up better than it would otherwise.

   Anyway, I think this is pretty cute! And I'll definitely make it again. I want to see if I can have the bow back with more coverage for my daughters, and I'll probably use the plain onesie option included in the pattern for gifts instead of the bodysuit pattern I was using before.

  Thanks for stopping by,