A Little Dress

 I recently came across some fabric in my stash that I had bought a while back off of a clearance rack. It had Grandpa's favorite tractor on it which I believe is what precipitated my buying it. 

Unfortunately, there was only a yard of it. Anything I made with it would have to be smallish. Plus Rugrat is stuck on knits right now. So that meant making anything with it for Rugrat is out. 

Fortunately, Grandpa's son has a toddler. So I figured, why not?

At first, I made a toddler sized bucket hat using a pattern I found online.

Now, I don't know what kind of toddlers that woman was raising. But if their heads are this big, I feel for the woman. It fit Rugrat's head easily. With her braids. And that was after the adult sized one I had made the week before using a different pattern was too tight with her braids.

So Rugrat got it, much to her jealous happiness at the time. Which is not to say that she's actually worn it but she was happy to get something with the tractor on it.

And I still had enough left to make something for her toddler cousinish.

 After finding the right size pattern online, it was easy peasy to put together a bodice out of a matching yellow and a skirt from the tractor fabric. It still seemed a little plain though. So I added a fabric yo-yo flower embellishment complete with a yellow button center.

The worst part was trying to figure out how to do the back. I dearly hate messing with buttonholes but very few of them came with a zipper closure. Finally, on one of the sites with patterns, someone used snaps to close a toddler dress. Eureka! No buttonholes and still comfy for the little girl. Works for me.

I think it turned out quite well and I expect somebody will look really cute in it. Plus it was fun to sew for a little one again.