Not spooky, a bit sweet, but she IS ready for fall!

Too bad she's about the most fall looking thing in FL right now.  

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I had a vision in my head when I picked out this dress from the Eli Monster.  Gorgeous fall colors, interchangeable bows.  Beautiful fall background for photos. The theme was supposed to be spooky or sweet for this. I figured I'd cover that with the fabric for the bows. Everything lined up perfectly except the fall background.  And the bow.

Riona is a dress girl.  Ninetly percent of the time, she'll pick a dress to wear.  The fancier, the better.  I'm thinking grungy shorts and a tshirt are perfect for a trip to the playground, and she wants to wear the sparkly, spinny, I think is almost too dressy for church, dress to slide down the slides and climb on all the things.  She doesn't let the fancy get in her way of fun!

So this dress.  I got the perfect gorgeous fall fabric.  It's this incredibly soft fine wale corduroy from The Fab Clique Fabrics. It's got just a little bit of stretch to it, and it drapes, and flows and is just amazing.  It was the perfect color for the vision I had in my head.  Then I was off to find something to make the bow out of.  I may have waited a bit too long, or maybe I need to check out better fabric stores.  I couldn't find ANYTHING spooky or sweet or Halloween themed that I loved for the bow.  This floral is stunning with it, so I got it even though it didn't quite go with what I wanted.  I don't regret it a bit!

I've been trying to commit to more "involved" patterns lately, instead of just whipping something up because I can.  Getting out of my comfort zone a bit.  Let me tell you.  This dress was it.  Not so much the difficulty of the pattern - but the mistakes I made, and the issues I had.  There will NEVER be photographs of the inside of this one.  Somehow, after having to recut one of the front bodice pieces because I ripped it taking out a mistake, I twisted the lining.  Or something.  All I know is that it didn't fit right.  Time was not on my side, so instead of ripping even more out, I made slits in the lining of the bodice so that the outside would lay right.  I was saving time, right?  It worked, though made the finishing touches harder and THAT took longer.  One day I'll learn.

But it's done.  She loves it as much as I do.  The corduroy was the perfect weight for this.  It's got great spin (essential if you're 8 years old). The bow can be taken off and another put on when I grab some more fabric. Does she count to make the theme sweet?  Because she is <3

Check out the other blogs and amazing spooky and sweet makes for the Eli Monster from these bloggers:

Seams Normal - a fun take on the Sötnos Shirt
Threadistry - awesome hack from the Fjell Dress
She who Sews - the wonderful Maritiem top for women
Siw Siw - a beautiful take on the Süsse skirt
Frullemieke - super cute take on the Sötnos Shirt
So Very Jo - another Sötnos shirt!