Tiny dresses for tiny girls

Sewing grown-up lady dresses is challenging and fun, but it takes a long time. Have you ever tried to hem a circle skirt? No? It takes about one episode of Desert Island Discs.

However there is a solution if one is in need of a quick fix! And that is: sewing baby girl dresses. Truly, one cannot make a baby dress and not be happy.

I went back to the pattern that I used last year to make Bella’s whale dress, the “Music Box Jumper” by Oliver + S (n.b. language guidance for British readers: “jumper” in an American means a pinafore dress. Yes, it makes no sense, but they’ve been so kind to me that I’m willing to let it slide).

First up, two tiny dresses for my two DC based Anglo-American hybrids.

The first, a pleated number for little miss Zoe, age 2.5 years old who recently left me a voicemail singing Happy Birthday and exclaiming JENNY PENNY!!!! in the middle which was probably the most delightful thing that has happened to me in the month of July so far.

And, for her ever-so-slightly-older sister Bella, age nearly 4, a second dress, this one in green Kona cotton and purple Amy Butler print, with some star buttons on the pockets:

And finally! There is one more baby, 1 year old Jasper, who deserved a dress in honour of her outstanding cuteness, and I took as inspiration the bunting quilt that I made for baby Lawrence last year (when he was but a foetus):

And here it is! Can you see the inspiration, readers? Would I win the “design a dress most like a baby quilt” week on Project Runway?

I also had a flash of inspiration on this one and decided to add the green waistband and a bow, which was a first for me. I used the tutorial from Tilly and the Buttons, and it turned out to be super easy! Expect to see bunting AND bows on most things I make from now on.

Here is a sneak peek of the back, where I used pale yellow buttons. All the dresses are constructed at the back like this, and I think it’s a pretty handy way of dressing a tiny girl.