De-construction, Re-construction, and More-Construction!!!

After working till 1:00 this morning trying to finish the cousin outfits, I finally went to bed.I wanted to take them to the grandmother today, but I guess tomorrow will have to do.  Did I sleep?  No, of course not.  I kept thinking of things I wanted to change about the two outfits.  I kept thinking about how the sleeve openings on the vest were not as big as the sleeves on the shirt. Also, I wasn't wild about the three-button-front of the vest.  I felt that it only needed two 

and shouldn't come up so high.   See photo.

So, the first thing this morning I started using my "little friend" that I LOVE to HATE, my seam ripper.  I cut the arm holes larger and lowered the front of the vest.

I really am glad that I went to the trouble to do this because I think it looks so much better.  Don't you?

Another thing I did was move the pocket up a little higher on the shirt.  I don't have a good picture that shows that it was too low, but trust me, it was.

Now, for the dress.  I posted about the bodice yesterday.  I sewed the organza trim to the skirt with a very narrow close-together zigzag stitch across the top edge of the top yellow ribbon. Then I did the same across the bottom edge of the top ribbon.  Can you see the zigzag stitches? I can, but not easily.  Good, I don't want to see them.  Then I used my applique scissors and cut away the organza and  eyelet underneath - very closely- to the zigzag stitching.  I don't have a photo, but I used my rolled hem foot to hem the edge of the organza.  I hate using that foot, but it turned out pretty well.  Very tiny!
Yesterday, I decided to use grosgrain ribbon as a sash.  During the night I envisioned a sash made from the fabric that goes all the way around, across the front, as well as the back.  I'm so glad that I changed this.  I do like grosgrain ribbon sashes, but felt this dress needed a fuller bow.  What do you think?

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The sash doesn't really show across the front because the collar hides most of it, but I still like it better than just the seam where the bodice and skirt meet. 

 Yesterday I decided to put one growth tuck in the skirt and lining.  The mom had measured her baby and said the length was 26".  After giving this some thought I realized that she had measured from head-to-toe, not a dress length.  So, I hemmed it where the pattern was marked, but I knew it would still be too long. So I added a growth tuck to the dress and the lining.   During my restless night I decided that it needed two growth tucks.  There's no way this "not even a year old baby girl" is that tall.  So, today I added another tuck to both the skirt and lining. 

 By the way, I hemmed the lining with a yellow heart decorative stitch.  I don't know how well it shows up in this photo.  I just love to add little details like this to my little dresses.  I would have used a contrasting color, but since you can see the lining through the eyelet I figured yellow-on-yellow would be best.  

Then, it hit me that this little lady would need bloomers.  I made some from the eyelet and lined them.  

This fabric that I used for the lining has great body.  It is a cotton blend that JoAnn's had on one of their displays out in the aisle so I couldn't miss it.  It really isn't a  lining fabric, but who cares?  It works very well.  It needed some extra body for this eyelet fabric.  

Here's the completed dress.   I'm anxious to see what the grandma thinks. 

 Here are the two outfits together.  Do you think they coordinate well enough?  The green of the vest and shirt aren't exactly the same as the green of the collar, but I couldn't match it exactly.  It is slightly darker, but the same hue.  The yellows are the same.  The boy's outfit is a cotton linen look blend that can be washed and won't wrinkle very badly.  His shirt is a quilt cotton. That's a headband with a bow made from the eyelet and encased with elastic hanging on the top of the dress.   

My Mother likes to see everything I make so I took them to show her at supper time.  She approved.