Saturday, January 30, 2016

Return of the Izzy (and me!)

Well, I suppose it's 2016 now, isn't it? Not quite sure how that happened! We took an extended trip to Florida over Christmas and New Year's, and it was a lovely time to reconnect with family and friends! One odd experience was to drive by our previous home -- we're now renting it out, so we wanted to "check up" on how it's being maintained, but goodness! How strange to drive by and realize that we're not living there now!

Speaking of home, I still haven't gotten around to sharing some bits of our new home with you. All in good time! For now, I have a new Izzy to share with you!




I used Girl Charlee's Paloma Grey Grey Gingham cotton jersey knit, which was quite nice to work with (and also on grain, so no frantic hair-pulling sessions required!). Self-lined, gathered skirt, size 4 for my three-year-old -- but she's in a 4T in most off-the-rack clothes, too, so I'd say this is sized accurately. Oh, and I always make the same size in knit that I would in woven with this pattern; with the lined bodice, it's always been stable enough. Plus, I like a little room to grow! It's crazy to think that the very first Izzy I made was size 18 months! Rosa wore it until she was almost 3, I think. By then it was just a shirt! 



I lengthened the skirt by several inches, to make it dress length, but other than that I kept it simple! I love the grey gingham, as it's muted and goes so well with little cardigans and leggings. Not a showstopper, more of a background piece.

A silver KAM snap on the back keeps everything in place (why yes, I did notice that the fabric pattern on my tab doesn't match the back bodice... but please note that the pattern matches across the back! *wink*). I always feel like I'm cheating when I use these snaps, but they are so simple to apply and make dressing little Rosa a breeze! For fancy dresses, I'm all about buttons. But on a play dress? Snaps will do quite nicely, thank you. I suppose I could disguise that it's a snap by inserting the snap inside the tab, then sewing a button to the outside. But let's just say I'm keepin' it real.




I kind of wish this was 100% cotton instead of a cotton/poly blend, but I must admit that the fabric has a nice hand. I got two yards, actually, because I know I'll want to make one in the next size up when the time comes!




And believe it or not, I have two more Izzies to share you -- one finished just today! Now that I'm home, I've been on a bit of a sewing binge, and I'm hoping to keep up that momentum until my fabric stash has dwindled significantly.

See my other Izzies here.

Find Teri's (wonderful!) free Izzy top pattern here.