Nutcracker Christmas Dress!

I managed to make a second project from the Nutcracker Christmas fabric I provided with as a Sewing Portfolio Ambassador! (First project here)  This gorgeous Nutcracker fabric is from Sarah Jane's Nutcracker Act 1 line by Michael Miller, and I'm obsessed with all of it. I've seen so many darling dresses made from different fabric combinations from this line that I've saved for inspiration for next year.

I actually was ahead of the game for once and had this dress done at the beginning of the month, just in time for us to go see The Nutcracker at a local ballet school. The cub has since worn it several places - Christmas parties (including her own here at our house), church, Nutcracker story time at the library. It's nice to get so much wear out of the Christmas dress!

I made the Georgia pattern from Violette Field Threads in a size 3. I added a little bit of fullness to the skirt, I think it was about 4 or 5". I only used three buttons down the back and think it could have used another one at least, maybe even two because it tends to pull open a little right at the top of the placket (I really should add a hook and eye now, but I seem to have a hard time going back to work on a project I thought was finished). The gold buttons were ones I already had in my box, which is why there were only 3.

I really wanted to have the ruffles at the neck and sleeves be solid, but was having a hard time finding exactly the right blue. Finally the obvious dawned on me - I just used the wrong side of the fabric! Perfect color.

It's so sweet on her, especially when I can convince her to let me put her hair in a bun (or a "hair donut" as we call it, since the piece we use inside is called a hair donut and she thinks that is so funny).