Thieves, strawberries and a dress

Lili is a tall girl for her age (I wonder why, hey?). But she is only 6, ie a little girl at heart, who loves wearing dresses day-in day-out, even when the weather turns bitter and cold (like today). The problem is: there is not much choice to find suitable clothes for her at the moment. Either too small (children's ranges stop at 128cm), too expensive (can't spend nearly 500 SEK -50 euros for a small dress, however pretty and charming it is, but can't steal it either) or too grown-up-girly-fashionable-in-a-glittery-way-that-I-hate (it's me, I know).

So. Because I think Lili should still be able to wear pretty dresses while she can and wants to, I decided to make one for her, of course (since I have lots of spare time as well...)!

Inspiration came from a Japanese book for the design. The fabric (which has to be practical, as it is going to be washed 700 times) is mainly jeans material (a leftover piece found at a bargain price (63 SEK) with Grandmere on Sveavägen back in September) with a touch (pockets and bias) of "Strawberry thief" Liberty fabric (found on ebay a couple of years ago).

Three evenings later, Lili has a new dress she can wear in all circumstances, from picking up snails (I added pockets to the original model for a reason, you know)  to attending the theatre, or just sitting quietly drawing a family of dinosaurs while munching on an orange-flavoured muffin ( a recent scene at the B.'s home) ;-) Problem solved!

Comments

[Anne-Karine]

It's a lovely idea, actually. I am not sure I really have the talent, but I can carry on practising. Lots of opportunities with lots of small people to dress. I so wish I had more time, not only the few bits left after all the rest is done (ie af from 10pm at night...). But sewing is also a good way to relax, I find, so it has its purpose as well!

[Grandma]

Well, it seems certain that you will soon have another two 'strings to your bow' - not only 'designer' Swedish lessons but 'designer' dresses for young ladies!! Well done, A-K, your inventiveness knows no bounds! And you definitely seem to have 'elastic' time which stretches to cope with all eventualities!! Maybe you will be opening your own Swedish Design-a-Dress shop one day.....?
Love from Rosemary

[Anne-Karine]

La belle Lili est au fond de son lit, la pauvrette, avec 39.2 de fievre...C'est Poppy qui a eu son vaccin grippe A hier, et c'est la grande qui se sentait toute chose en rentrant de sa sortie theatre avec l'ecole ce soir. Esperons que cela passe vite, et que personne n'attrappe ses microbes au passage - voeu pieu ;-(

[Grand-mère]

Waouh ! Je suis en admiration devant ce que tu as fait de ce coupon de tissu (je me souviens très bien du jour où tu l'avais acheté). Et puis le Strawberry thief est un tissu cher à mon coeur, j'ai moi aussi une jupe faite dans ce tissu :)
Il me tarde de voir Lili dans sa jolie robe !
Baisers
Maman