I just finished this little girl's dress made from the Sandi Henderson Analise pattern. I was inspired by The Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric by Eric Carle to make a "dots" twirl dress as my intrepretation of the fabric. I found different size, shape, and colors of fabrics with dots to create texture to the dress. Then I made the bodice and final layer at the bottom of the dress from the fabric that has the caterpillar eating through the picnic fruit. It was fun to design!
The dress itself took quite a bit of fabric. The bottom ruffle along took a full yard of fabric cut into strips. I should have measured the ruffle before I sewed it onto the dress, I know it was over 10 feet long. This dress will sure twirl high!
The pattern itself was fairly easy to follow, but I got confused with the A and B parts of some pieces because I didn't realize I needed to label them. It was late at night and I also could have overlooked that step. But, because I didn't label my pieces, I did end up with the same colors touching in one spot on the dress. Luckily the dress is so full that I don't think it is noticable at all!
The back of the dress is really cute! It has elastic in the back and also closes by tying the long straps in a large bow. I love the back of this dress pattern. And, I love the topstitching of the elastic in the back. I hadn't though to do that before. I think I'm going to make a lot more elastic casings look like that.
Overall, I think this pattern, although a lot of work, time, and fabric, was fairly straightworward. I would rate it at an intermediate level. And, it gave me a good reason to use my serger to create a rolled hem - something I have been meaning to try for awhile, but it never happened! Thanks for the pattern Sandi!
