After a horrible experience with a Butterick pattern last week, I soothed my sewing soul with a perfectly crafted Vogue pattern from the "Little Vogue" collection, number 7904 (year 1990). It is for my beautiful niece Tehilah. Here are some photos of the dress.

Being modeled by Christina:


I used the eyelet as the top fabric on sleeves and used the bodice fabric as the facing. The sleeves are fully faced with no raw edges to be found:



I also added a ruffle at the collar which was not in the original pattern.



Another "extra" the pattern didn't call for was an overskirt. On the under skirt I used the recommended 3" hem with a blind hem stitch, and on the overskirt I learned a new stitch on my serger, the rolled hem stitch, so the eyelet wouldn't need to be folded over. The only downside of this was that because I rolled the hem before I started construction (because I needed the serger for overlocking), I didn't have any leeway on the length once I tried it on my model.

I really enjoyed making these. I used a Simplicity pattern for the older girls' dresses which I lengthened quite a bit  (about 6 inches each) and to which I added a contrasting sleeve band and bias tape edging in lieu of a hem. For Christina's dress I used a McCalls pattern which I lengthened. Soren's outfit was Kwik Sew and it was a pleasure to sew the cute little shirt - yoke and all. I used a twin needle for all the topstitching for a professional effect. I am really pleased with how it came out.  I will post photos with more detail later but this was from the photo shoot today.