I fell in love with the Geranium dress by Rae when I saw it the first time, sadly it was only sized up to 5 years.  My daughter is 5 but she is on the tall side so I usually need to size up and felt it didn’t make sense to make a dress she could only barely fit into and didn’t include any larger sizes.

So when Rae announced the release of the larger sizes I was so happy I have been in a sewing mood lately.  Making grocery bags is one thing but a dress is a totally different story.  It might be the same thing for some, but you can ignore mistakes or errors in a bag but not on your child’s clothing.

Yesterday, I decided to sew it up. I purchased the pattern and printed it out.  It took a few hours from start to finish.  Rae’s instructions are very clear.

My grandmother had given me the floral fabric last year and I had never gotten round to using it. I realized that it would not be enough for the whole dress. And last winter I got rid of all of my scraps and donated them because they were taking up so much space and I didn’t think I would need them. Luckily I found some white cotton that worked beautifully with the floral fabric.

The size 6 is a perfect fit and the length is just perfect. I chose to do view B, which is basically the faux cap sleeves and the skirt is pleated instead of gathered. I liked the flutter sleeves but I have a problem with gathering, which is not anyone’s fault except mine. For some reason I end up fighting with my sewing machine and I always feel the gathers are never exactly symmetrical (does anyone else feel that way?) and that annoys me. So pleats are the way to go for me.

I also confess I was going to reconsider the pattern when I realized it needed three button holes. I don’t have anything against buttons, but I dislike having to make button holes. I almost always mess them up. But this time I took things VERY SLOWLY and measured three times before actually making them. The first one doesn’t look so good but you can’t see it, the second two are great. I found the three matching buttons in my button stash and they were a good match.

Overall, I am very happy with the pattern. The instructions are clear and easy to follow with a lot of pictures to help you along the way so even a beginner could make this dress confidently. I also love the finished dress, it is cute and summery and doesn’t have that homemade look we all try to avoid but looks handmade with love which is what we all aim for.

If you have a little girl this dress is definitely a winner.