Hello sweet ones. Happy New Year!

2013 has gotten off to a pretty slow start around here but I guess that is not a bad thing. I’m super excited for a year full of sewing though and this year I am going to make a serious effort to document everything, no matter how simple the project.

Before that I have a few things from 2012 I want to show you. My daughter suddenly stretched in the last few months of the year and most of her pants were becoming too short. She really needed some warm, long pants to wear to preschool. So a couple of days before Christmas I made her a dress and then the next day I made her a tunic. Makes total sense, right?

I can hardly be blamed. In December I received some yardage of the newest nani IRO collection, 2013 Basic New. This print had me in a frenzy right away. Neon + dots! It kinda reminded me of a Christmas tree and I thought it would make a pretty great Christmas dress for A but had no firm plans to make one. That is until Rae released her latest pattern, Geranium Dress. As soon as I saw that I knew what the fabric would become so I bought the pattern, did all the necessary preparations, and stayed up late into the night sewing like a tipsy elf.

This is the second Made By Rae pattern I have sewn with and I love it as much as I do the Washi Dress pattern.

I made both the dress and tunic in size 3, View B with faux cap sleeves, pleats and pockets. For some reason I thought hand sewing snaps on the back of the dress would be faster than making buttonholes. Not so, friends, not so. The hems on both are also hand sewn as I prefer that look on double gauze but I think I will re-do the tunic hem with a machine stitch as I don’t love the way it currently sits.

The tunic version is made with this beautiful Kokka corduroy and the bodice is lined with a favourite from my stash. I have had it for years and I *think* it is a Kei print. Does anyone recognize it?

The best thing about the dress and tunic is that A loves them. They have pockets for her treasures and she can twirl in them and that’s pretty much all a 3 year old asks for, isn’t it.

View A of this dress is also really pretty. It has flutter sleeves and a gathered waist and I will be making this version too for sure. You can see many more Geranium dresses over in the flickr pool. They are all beautiful but I think my favourite is this one by Cherie from You and Mie. That eyelet fabric is perfect!

Did you sew any clothes for the holidays this year?