The Owlie Dress

When I saw this owl-patterned knit at JoAnn, I knew it would be a perfect dress for Rosa. I brought home 2/3 of a yard, and waited. Finally, the temperatures started to drop, and out came the owlie fabric!

Those tiny feet!  Today she's wearing size 0-6 months socks,
and we recently celebrated her first birthday. Crazy.

(As I write this, Rosa is toddling around with Angus, as we've affectionately dubbed the Prince Lionheart Wheely Bug that Little Man received for his first birthday. His grandmother found it secondhand for a steal, and it's turned out to be a favorite toy in our household. Little Man can zoom around the house now, sitting astride, but Rosa's progress is a little slower -- she holds onto the handle and pushes Angus backwards while she walks. I love admiring the backs of her chubby little knees!)

Anyway, back to the actual topic of this post...

I made the pattern by tracing a thrifted dress -- I liked the raglan sleeves and short length (perfect for leggings). The thrifted dress is pretty snug, so I enlarged it a bit so that Rosa could wear her owlie dress all winter long.

As it turned out, I enlarged it a bit too much, and had to add some elastic into the neckband casing! No big deal. 

I used some leftover coral knit as an accent fabric at the neckline and sleeve cuffs, and decided to experiment with a little faux ruffled placket. I was planning to add buttons down the center, but I removed them after deciding I preferred it without. 

The neckline is a bit thick, due to the binding method I used --
but it's a fairly clean and simple finish, which I like.

One of the best things about making this dress was that I came up with a simple legging pattern (again, by tracing an existing pair of knit pants -- Rosa's only pair!). I eliminated the center front/back seams, and opted for a rounded crotch shape. This makes them super simple to assemble, and they fit beautifully. I've made up half a dozen pairs now, out of various leftover fabrics (including ligthweight sweaters).

I had a little fun with my topstitching on the raglan sleeves, and straddled the seam with my double needle (make sure you use a STRETCH double needle when topstitching knits, just as a you use a stretch needle for the seams -- regular double needles can cause holes to form in your fabric).

You can tell in this photo that the coral isn't quite the same color as the pink
in the owl fabric, but it's not at all obvious in "real life."

Simple, cute, cozy, and very snuggly. Now that's something I can give a hoot about.