Our niece is full of surprises. ALL. THE. TIME!!

Especially when it deals with sewing.

Like…the time she decided she just didn’t like “the triangle dress.” HUH? It was comfy, and we actually used fun fabric {which is soooo not our normal protocol}.

Or, when she selected pastel thread to practice her sewing – instead of the bold, bright counterparts in our stash.

Then, there was the time she requested a yellow dress {blogged about HERE}…when we just knew she’d want a pink one {that we already had in the works}!

Just when we think we are figuring her out, she throws us for a loop…

And, as you have probably deduced, it happened once again.

You see, sickness kept us from seeing the nieces for a while this winter. Between both of our illnesses, it was difficult to find a time when everyone was well. So, we sewed. And sewed. And sewed.

When it was time to see one another, we had four dresses ready for EA. Dresses had been requested months beforehand {since she was wearing this creation…all the time}, yet we hadn’t been able to make  the delivery. EA knows the “skill and drill”. She has to try on her new clothes, and we have to take pictures “to see if it fits.” Then, once we see the pictures, we can determine if it fits or not and if she can take it back to her house or if we need to keep it and fix it. Of course, it’s a ruse {and we wonder how long we can keep it up, but anyway…}. We need photos for our blog, and she wants to take the garment home….so, it typically encourages her to stop what she is doing, try it on, and quickly get some pictures.

A few weekends ago, we knew we had our work cut out for us. Four dresses?? And tutus?? Photos of all of them??  OH DEAR!

For the record, EA was WONDERFUL {and truly liked each and every creation we had sewn this time around}!! Each of our photo “sessions” took no more than 10 minutes {and some were closer to 5 minutes}. We were all on a mission….. Hopefully, a 4 year old is drawing the conclusion of how quickly we can take photos, if we are all agreeable and work together. It takes NO TIME in the scheme of things!

But, back to our niece surprising us yet again…

We sewed four dresses, and had several discussions about which she might like the most. One had the benefit of her styling selection – a scarf made using fabric of her choice. But, another one was PINK…with purple flowers {of which she had sketched out a pink with purple flower dress the night before}…need we say more?!?! And then there was the one in gorgeous corduroy Liberty!

The “wild card” was the Oliver + S, School Photo Dress. We had yet to sew this dress {we modified one here}….but, it screams “our style”?!?!  Using some fabric won during our stint on Project Run and Play. we went for the 1960s and a “Twiggy style” all the way. This is a “3 scissor” difficulty level of Oliver + S patterns, and while our creation isn’t perfect, it definitely gave us a sense of pride in its completion.

As for the specifics?

We felt that a subtle directional change to the fabric created an interesting feature.

And, then there was some hand-stitching we opted to do {surprise, surprise} on the collar and cuffs. We followed the design of the fabric, and sewed geometric patterns on both. Since we are not “spatial,” we hand-stitched the entire area of collar and cuffs. So, much of the hand-stitching went unseen. But, if one happened to look on the inside of the collar and/or cuff, the stitching would be there :).

The big question was: Would it be enough for a 4 year old??? The colors weren’t exciting. And, hand-stitching had yet to receive accolades from that age range… We “knew” her favorites would be one of the other three, and hoped she would “accept” this fourth garment.

Ummmmmm, this dress WON her heart… HANDS. DOWN.

Or, maybe we should say – HANDS. IN. THE. POCKET. To say the pocket feature “wowed” her would be an understatement!!

FYI: This is now called the “secret pocket dress” in our house, and will probably forever be called the “secret pocket dress.”

EA thoroughly enjoyed hiding one of her mom’s “vintage” Little Ponies in the pocket for the photos, and pulling it out for photographs.

We were THRILLED it was a sewing success!!! We LOVE this style of dress, and plan on making many, many, more “secret pocket dresses” for our nieces.

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