Elephant Dress

I wish I had a more clever title for this dress, but sometimes a name just sticks in your head and that's that. Earlier this year, I received some free fabric from Organic Cotton Plus and made the awesomist Easter dress for my oldest daughter. It's held up amazingly well, despite many washings the color hasn't faded and the fabric hasn't thinned. So I was thrilled to be able to do another review for Organic Cotton Plus. This time, I decided to make a dress (and the headband!) for our newest family member, baby H.

It turned out pretty cute, but I may be biased based on the model :) I went with this elephant interlock, and chose some pink rib knit for the trim. A word about the elephants: I definitely thought, looking at the image online, that they were pink. Hence the pink trim. But they are off-white. Luckily, the colors still went together really well, and probably it's even better with only a touch of pink.

I wanted to use this flutter sleeve tunic pattern from Brindle and Twig, but I'm trying to go on a pattern freeze. I knew I could probably figure out something similar with a pattern I already have. I ended up with the Gloria dress from Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop, but I added the flutter sleeve (slightly modified) from the Oliver+S Badminton Dress, the same one from the Easter dress I mentioned before. It's basically just a long skinny oval, pointed on the ends, folded over, gathered, and basted to the sleeve head before it's sewn into the bodice. Easy peesy!

This little chunk is only 5 months old, but this is a 12 month dress. I did shorten the skirt 2" and this is the 3/4 length sleeve. I added pink cuffs at the wrists and also on the hem of the dress.

The rib knit was a dream to sew, and both fabrics finger-pressed very well (important to a busy mama who can't leave her iron on all the time). The interlock seemed to want to stretch out a lot, but I've found that to be true of all interlocks. However, they're much easier to sew than jerseys that roll on you.

Organic Cotton Plus has some of the most amazing lace trim. I've seriously been thinking about it for the last six months, because I couldn't figure out a way to incorporate it into my last review. I decided to try my hand at making a headband. Of course, all the laces are non-stretch, so I had some puzzling to do in order to make it work. I looked at a few of my store-bought headbands and decided on an elastic back. To keep it looking pretty, I also made a casing from the pink rib knit. 

I'm excited for baby H to wear this dress for the rest of the fall/winter, because I know it's going to hold the color well and stay super soft. Get yourself over to Organic Cotton Plus and get some cozy fall fabrics for yourself!

The fabric for this post was sent to me for free in exchange for this review. I would never endorse a product I don't love, and all opinions are my own. The patterns mentioned were bought by me.