The Skater Dress

I think it's pretty cool!

Have you seen this pattern yet? It's the Skater Dress pattern from Kitschy Coo, and it's definitely one that you'll use again and again!

Today I'm participating in Kitschy Coo's Skater Dress Blog Tour along with a slew of other very talented bloggers.  You'll want to go through and visit each one to see how they customized the Skater Dress for their own special little girl.

As some of you may have read recently, I'm exploring new fabrics and sewing with some knits now.  I had such great success with the Bimaa Sweater a few weeks ago, that I jumped at the chance to make my first ever knit dress (the Skater Dress) for little Ella.

I meant to buy some new fabric to make this dress, but my family was anxiously impatiently waiting in the car when I had a chance to go to the fabric store.  I couldn't make up my mind under pressure, so I ended up using the only yardage of knit I had at home.  I have no idea where this fabric came from.  I think it just magically appeared!  Anyway, it's a cotton interlock knit of decent quality, and I had some left over ribbed knit from the second Bimaa Sweater I made that was perfect for the neck and wrist bands.

What I ended up with was a very purplicious dress!  My daughter loves it!

But I didn't stop there.  My friend, Lindsay, from Lindsay Sews had posted a picture on Facebook of this skate fabric, and the colorway was a perfect match to Ella's new Skater Dress!  Lindsay graciously provided me with her scraps of the Melody Miller Ruby Star Sparkle Rollerskates Go With Me fabric, and I was able to piece together one entire skate to then applique to the front of her dress.  Thanks, Lindsay!

I know it's very literal, but I just couldn't get this fabric graphic out of my head!  And since the colors were a perfect match to the dress, I had to do it.  Plus, this skate reminds me of all the nights I spent hanging out and skating with my friends in high school.  It makes me smile to look at it!

After I finished piecing the skate print together, I used a piece of heat and bond lite to fuse it to the dress.  Then I secured it by sewing a zigzag stitch in the dark purple thread all the way around the rectangle.  Super simple!

So here are some more details about the Skater Dress Pattern.  It comes in sizes 18 month to 8 youth and offers you three sleeve options--sleeveless, short, and long--so you can make dresses from it all year round for years and years!

Ella's dress was made using the 5/6 youth, and as you can see, it might be just a little long at the moment.  I think it fits well in the bodice particularly at the shoulder, but she just turned 4, so I expected it to be a slightly on the large side.  With washing and drying, I suspect it will draw up a little bit.  Plus, she'll have this to wear again in the fall!

The pattern instructions were very simple to understand and accompanied by tons of photos and helpful tips for sewing with knits including how to hem the knit dress on your regular machine using a single or double needle.  Following Amanda's instructions, I was able to hem Ella's dress with no stretching or ugly rippling of the fabric.

All in all, this pattern was a joy to sew.  Now that it is starting to warm up, I better make Ella a short-sleeved version, too.

Don't forget to follow along on Kitschy Coo's Skater Dress Pattern Tour.  I know I will! Thanks, Amanda, for inviting me!