Simplicity 2444: The Kid Dress

The ward (or congregation) I attend has undergone some organizational changes recently, and I have received a new assignment to work with and teach the 1 1/2 to 3 year old kids during church.  I'm really excited about this new assignment, because the kids that age are so fun.  They are also super active and require a lot of chasing after.  I quickly realized that my current wardrobe of pencil skirts wasn't going to work well :)

So I figured I'd better find some clothes that allow for bending, sitting on the floor, playing, reading stories and chasing toddlers :)  That meant some full skirts.  I've seen several renditions of this pattern in the blog world, and they all looked great, so I thought I'd try making one.  I liked the fit and flare silhouette and the unusual darts in the bodice front, as well as the classic shape of the dress.

I made a couple changes to the pattern.  I cut the skirt front and skirt back, as well as the bodice front and bodice back on the fold, and moved the zipper from the center back to the side.  I used an invisible zipper and it actually went in really well.  I used the tutorial from the Seams, Closures and Hems video by Liesl Gibson, and the zipper went in beautifully and was, indeed, invisible.  I've used her method several times, and it always sees to work really well.  I used a lightweight cotton pique fabric from Fashion Fabrics Club that I ordered earlier this year.  I believe it is a Marc Jacobs fabric.  It was great to work with.  You can see the weave in the picture below.  I always thought pique was just that really heavy, textured cotton that you see a lot of, and was really confused when so many patterns recommended it as a fabric to use for dresses and blouses.  I now realize that they're probably talking about this type of pique!  You learn something new every day, right? ;)

As a side note, I have to say that I really love Fashion Fabrics Club.  Their shipping is pretty slow, but they have a great selection of, for the most part, really high quality fabrics.  I've ordered from them many times and am almost always happy with almost all of my order.  Their prices are really good for the fabrics they offer.  I've found that often they carry some of the same fabrics as Fabricmart, but at a much lower price.  Anyway, that's all :)

The fit of this dress was quite good, I just had a couple issues with it.  One was that the lower bodice in the center seemed kind of baggy.  I don't know if it had to do with the shape or position of the darts, but the rest of the bodice felt fine, except the lower center.  The other issue I had was that the neckline seemed to gape a little.  If I'm standing straight with my arms down, it's fine.  If I move around a lot, it starts to gape.  Maybe I should have cut a smaller size, but I didn't want the rest of it too tight, as I need full range of movement.  Oh well, they're minor quibbles.  All in all, I'm really happy with it.  I tested it out on Sunday, and it performed beautifully for floor-sitting and toddler-taming!