A. and I made this little girls dress and bloomers today.

I saved two mannequins from Ditto Kiddo, to use at craft shows and who knows what else (they make everything on them look so good!). I had many, many, many more (and loved them all dearly) and they were the first things that sold when I announced I was closing the store. I saved two, which mean, of course, that I'll need at least three.

Suddenly we're limited for space in our house ... could be the huge influx of can't-get-rid-of might-need-someday crap from the store. The two mannequins will have to hang out in the sewing room since there really isn't storage space for them, which is cool because even though they have no heads, which is a little weird, they're good company and fun ... and, as a little added bonus, they can't talk back. But they couldn't be naked, could they?

So we made one of them a summery pillowcase dress. There are loads of tutorials on the Internet to make these. I've also made them for M., using regular fabric, and have made tops for C. With the ribbon ties it's a really flexible and easy to adapt for any size. Were I making this for a real child I'd have put some more work into the seams (they are really poorly done, so don't look at the photos any larger!), but this girl won't be running or playing in her dress so no real worries about wear and tear.

Every time I've seen one of these dresses out in public I've had to comment on it. I know they are simple to make and inexpensive but they look like a million bucks on the toddlers ... and very boutiquey.

The other girl will get a dress later. Yes, the little mannequins could certainly can be boys too ... but a simple dress is much easier to make than boys clothing and, I hate to admit it, but girls clothes are much for fun to play with. Sorry guys.