Teddy dresses

I used to sew a lot of clothes. And I dreamed of making clothes for my children one day. But about 10 years ago I lost interest in sewing clothes, and focused solely on quilts. Tonight I made the first garments in about a decade!

Eleanor loves to dress up her teddies, and Father Christmas has provided several outfits for them in her stocking the last two years (the teddies came from Pumpkin Patch, and they have a Patch teddy range - very handy!). But one of her favourite items is a dress my mother made for my frog when I was little, and I knew I could copy it. I've been meaning to for ages. Tonight was it. Instead of finishing the quilting on the triangles which I've not touched since the weekend, I traced out and adapted a pattern, and made up 2 dresses; one for Eleanor's white teddies, and one for James' rabbit, Bec.

James has been making noises about clothes for Bec ever since the clothes for the teddies arrived. I rather thought the fad would pass, but it's obviously not, so this year there will be clothes for Bec in James' stocking. I've managed to buy a few things for her, but she's too small (about 8in tall) for most bought items. He especially wants bathers for her (the teddies have a yellow polka-dot bikini), but I've not been able to find anything suitable except a rashie, so that will have to do. I think bathers are beyond me! The dresses just need a couple of press-studs hand sewing in place at the back (I think I still have some), and they're finished.

The tops are lined, and (apart from the scalloped hemline, which is just folded once and sewn) all the seams are properly-finished, with no raw-edges. The shell skirt was actually cut from a octagonal/circular design on some quilting fabric. Being a bit smaller, and since I'd had trouble turning the shell top right-side-out throught he narrow shoulders, I decided to use voile for Bec's. I bought some a while back for a summery quilt, and this was the first time I'd used it. It's a bit slippery, but not hard to sew, and was much easier to turn through. It probably made things easier for the heavily-gathered skirt, too.