Emmylou's 4th Birthday Dress!

Hello!

So last month, my baby girl turned the big 0-4.  I still can't believe it!  She's such a smart, beautiful, hysterical little love, and lucky doesn't even begin to describe how I feel being her Mama.  She is my everything.

And my everything is becoming quite the opinionated young lady!  She is not a girly-girl at all.  She is into snakes and bugs, getting any-kind-of dirty, and she likes to ride her scooter at a thousand miles per hour.  But lately she's been ALL ABOUT twirling.  It's that Frozen, I tells'ya.  Ever since I made her these Skater Tee peplum tanks (which she spins around in 'like a princess' even though the peplums are only like 5 inches long omgadorable), I knew I needed to make her a legit twirly dress!  Never in this poor childs life have I made her a straight-up girl's girl kinda dress!  

So, for her 4th birthday, I decided it was time.  I gathered tulle from Canada Tulle (precut to 18" wide x 25yds long, awesome!), and some crepe back satin in her fave color from Online Fabric Store (my place of employ - convenient for sure!).  But I didn't want to just cover Em in a big ol' purple dress - I wanted it to still have plenty of her personality built in.

How about a scenic African Plains wildlife print!?  Yes, ok!  Em is very much in love with the characters from Madagascar, so I thought this print would just tickle her silly. It did. :)

The pattern is Tinny from Straight Grain Patterns, and it's just adorable.  I chose this pattern because of it's many options.   I know I'll be able to use this pattern again and again, and it'll look different each time!

I cut a size 3t, and lengthened the skirt by I think about 10 inches!  I knew I wanted the dress to be like ballgown length.  If we're doin' this, we're doin' it, amiright?

I ended up using 12 of the 25 yards of tulle in the skirt!  Infinite thanks to my bff Beth for helping me corral all of it.  I would've added more layers but the smarter people around me told me it was ok to stop.

I hemmed with my rolled hem foot (like this guy).  It's not perfection, but I'm pretty happy with it considering satin + circle skirt!  I took these pics the day after her big party, so the dress had taken quite a beating by this point. :)

All the twirling:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMYLOU!

Pattern: Tinny by Straight Grain Patterns Bodice: Scenic Print Skirt: Crepe Back Satin, Tulle Full Lining: Broadcloth Belt: Trim, similar here Shoes: n/a

I've got some awesome Kids Clothes Week things cookin' that hopefully I can get around to sharing this weekend, and also some really cool stuff coming up next week!  Lots going on!

Have a good day, guys!