Simplicity 8304 – View D – 2 Versions

When I made my #2018makenine plans earlier on in the year, they contained baby clothes.  Yep, that’s right…baby clothes for my baby.  Quite often I still think that it’s crazy that I’ve got the opportunity to make clothes for MY baby.  Well, Rosie is now 8 months old and apart from a couple of accessories, I’ve actually only made 2 clothing items for her.  We were given the Simplicity 8304 Baby Gear pattern as a gift and I loved the little dresses so much.  I decided that this would be my first venture into sewing for Rosie!

Rosie has little chunky arms so I decided to make the sleeveless dress; view D.  The pattern itself only had 4 pieces, which made it so simple and quick for tracing and cutting.  After cutting the pattern out, I had a change of plan and decided to do a lined bodice as I really didn’t want to use bias binding.  I avoid bias binding at all costs as I can never get to look quite right.  To make a lined bodice, I cut out an extra front and back bodice.  I also eliminated the facing/ button placket width on the back bodice pieces.  Of course, I didn’t really take may photos at all of the construction as I was getting a little excited!  I did notice that there were no cutting lines for the length of the dress meaning that the length was the same for all sizes.  Obviously, Rosie isn’t the same size as a toddler so I did shorten it by about 4inches.  

The construction of the dress was quite straight forward and simple.  I did forget to finish the edge of the skirt where it attached to the bodice so I had to do the overlock stitch once it had been gathered.  This proved to be quite difficult and I definitely wont be making that mistake again.  My excited self also got carried away when attaching the gathered skirt to the bodice and I caught some of the main fabric in the seam, which brought it up slightly at the front.  It isn’t noticeable when Rosie is wearing it so I didn’t go back to unpick it.   For this dress, I used press studs on the back for the fastenings and you should recognize the fabric as being the same as the nursing dress I made not too long ago.  

As the dress was so quick and (relatively) simple to make, I plucked up the courage to make another one WITH the bias binding facings.  This time I also made sure to finish all the edges before sewing any of the seams together!  I was pleasantly surprised at how the binding facings turned out, even on the curves.  I think there was only one part of the hem facing that didn’t get caught up with my stitching but again, it’s not really noticeable! I’m pleased with both dresses and I’m really glad that I’ve started to make Rosie some clothes!  I’ve acquired a few baby patterns so I’m looking forward to getting busy.