Summer=Sundresses

 

Almost 2 year-old Alastair needed daycare this week.  His mother, my computer engineer daughter Rebecca, was called back to work full-time for a big project so I am tending the little guy on the west coast of Florida while his parents work.  I love it but his presence adds a new dimension to the challenge of snapping photos for a post.

plain jane sundress, unembellished except for cat hair

The dresses (one embroidered, one plain) were carried here in a bag, meant to be ironed.  But Alastair thought that was not a good use of our time and nixed the session at the ironing board.  Okay, we’ll live with the wrinkles.

Then I wanted to sew three tiny buttons onto the bow knot on one shoulder.  But before they were stitched in place, Alastair snatched them from the leather ottoman where they were resting and ran like the wind with them clutched in his hot little hand.  As he ran, he squealed with delight that Nana was chasing him. 

When I finally convinced him to return the buttons to their rightful owner, he dropped them onto the oriental rug where they became invisible.  I quickly recovered the buttons and sewed them to the bow knot. Finally, I got things set up to take a picture.

Then Bandita, the family Ragdoll cat, saw the photo op as her big break into internet fame.  Apparently, she has heard of YouTube and features herself as the new Fancy Feast cat.  She hissed and refused all efforts to step away from the camera.   Finally, the feline starlet-to-be was locked up in the screened back porch, allowing me to get a few shots of the plain dress as well as the new and improved version. 

Does this dress make me look fat?

I placed the ribbon and flip flops on the embroidered dress.   But just as I framed the picture, the ribbon took off like fishing line with a big bass on the hook.  Alastair had the reel of orange/gold grosgrain and was headed for the kitchen. 

No amount of begging, cajoling or pleading convinced him to surrender the ribbon and there were no cookies –the universal kid currency– in this house.  RATS!!! Finally, the photo was taken with 29 lbs. of  little boy on one end of the ribbon and more Nana pounds than that anchoring the little bit of ribbon left in the photo. 

Whew.  So while these pics are not great–or even good–it’s all I can do for this blog with cats and kids participating.  And now about the sundress……..

I love to see little girls in dresses.  At least here in Florida, everyday fashion is pretty much unisex–pants for all.  I’m as guilty as anyone as I galumph about  in Capris or jeans or pants, but I still find great pleasure in seeing my granddaughter wearing feminine apparel.  I’d like to make her more dresses, but as always, there is a shortage of time.

So I was happy as a big fat clam to find this  little $8 knit sundress.   With unlimited possibilities for embellishment, it is perfectly good “everyday” quality and delivers both the comfort and freedom of movement necessary for play.  Six year old Laurel Cade is as likely to be climbing a tree as to be hosting an impromptu tea party.  This dress would be suitable for either occasion.  And if it gets torn or stained, the loss is minimal. 

Flip flops are the perfect footwear for a dress like this and Laurel loves wearing them.  With my newfound infatuation with bows–thank you www.learntomakebows.com!– I planned to make toe bows to coordinate with the dress.  So I started with ribbon that picked up the colors in the sundress and then matched my embroidery design to the ribbon. As soon as the flip flop bows are finished, I’ll post a picture of the complete outfit.

The Lots of Dots alphabet collection from Bunycup Embroidery is the source of the monogram.  Then I added three tiny buttons to the plain bow knot.  I like this dress so much that I bought another in pink and have decided to go back to buy one in lavender.  Each will have matching flip flops with bows.  That will be three similar, easy sundress outfits for Laurel, but Florida summers are long. 

If you have started sewing for summer, please share your ideas and projects.  I would love to hear about them.