Hedgehogs and Serendipity

I'm so chuffed that Rosa still loves the things I sew for her! Of course, I give myself an advantage when I use hedgehog fabric...

Admittedly, Rosa did think at first that they were puppies hiding under bushes!

I had fabric left over from my double point needle cases, and when I found SewPony's free Dulcie dress pattern recently, I was inspired to try it out right away! I printed only the bodice pieces, because I already had a skirt. I'd made a linen blend wrap skirt over two years ago, and only wore it once or twice. It just didn't work, much as I wanted it to. It didn't look right with any of my tops, and I was disappointed to have wasted money and time. Not a very serendipitous start! I stuffed it away in the stash, and several times it was nearly thrown out altogether. But I knew I could at least get a pair of baby pants out of it, so I kept it. And now I'm glad I did! I cut off the waistband, added a center back seam, and stitched on some pockets. I was even able to use the leftover wrap skirt ties:

I changed a few things about the dress -- I altered the back to button up instead of zip, and added a short placket in the skirt back to accommodate that change. I also added the contrast sleeve band, a coordinating detail on the bodice, and a bias binding for the neckline. Fortunately, I still had the scraps from my original wrap skirt (I hoard linen scraps!), so I had a little extra fabric to work with.

For a final touch? A little fabric hair clip, made with the very last fragments of fabric.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out! Serendipitous, indeed. I have another wrap skirt in khaki linen that may meet the same fate if this dress is a success with its new owner...