Christmas Lily Dress

I have a tendency to only purchase PDF patterns.  I really don't mind the taping together of pages and I can get a new pattern instantly and not have to worry about shipping costs.  But occasionally I do splurge and order some patterns online and I'm glad I did with this one.

This is the Lily Dress by Green Bee Designs.  I'd had my eye on it for a long while and was a bit intimidated with sewing the scallops but I bought it a couple of months ago all the same.  My first attempt at sewing the scalloped yoke was a bit of a disaster so it did sit on the shelf for a good long while, until I decided this would make a cute Christmas dress and decided to try again.  This time I had a 1/4 inch sewing foot for my machine which made it much easier.  I used a smaller stitch length and the slowest speed setting on my machine and I was much happier with the results.

I sewed a size two and as you can probably tell it's very short!  Next time I will be sewing the size three and seeing how that goes.  Because I used a pale fabric for the yoke I had to make two full yokes instead of just a facing so this meant some seams got quite thick.  The other thing I'd noticed when I'd already sewn the bodice is that the patterns asks for a thread chain.  Now granted I have not used one yet but I'm not convinced it will be strong enough for a two year old and in any case I was working on this dress right to the deadline so I just attached some ribbon as a button loop instead.  Maybe I'll give the thread chain a go another time...

Having said all that, it is a very cute pattern and one I will definitely make again.  The longest, trickiest part was the scalloped yoke but now I've done it once I won't be so nervous to sew it again.  It looks very sweet and was a perfect Christmas dress.