The Lotta dress pattern tour: climbing the willow

I’m so excited to be here at CompagnieM. as part of the Lotta Dress blog series!  And it’s not just because I’m a huge, huge (did I say huge ?!?!) fan of Marte and her sewing, but also because I get to share Mae’s favorite dress ever!!!

Mae seriously loves this dress!  Not only did she voluntarily take pictures (a small miracle!) … she also didn’t want to stop taking them and wouldn’t let me take the dress off when we were done :)  I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to pry her out of it when it needs to be cleaned! Do you think her smile could get any bigger?  I think this is the first dress she has ever owned where it was easy for her to get stuff in and out of the pockets.  Once she discovered those, she was in her own little version of heaven :)

Even the back of the dress is beautiful!  There are three different options included in the pattern, but I stuck with the simple button (or snap in my case) placket closure for ease of dressing.  As much as I love the other options, dressing a two year old who hates to get dressed is a task reserved solely for snaps in our house :)  Once I no longer feel like I’m wrangling an octopus when I get Mae dressed, I’m going to have to make another version of this dress with the button loop closure which is my personal favorite.

This is the first time I was able to sew with Nani Iro double gauze, and I have to say that this fabric is wonderful.  It is so incredibly soft!  And when you add in the fact that I lined the bodice with a knit, it’s no wonder that Mae loves this dress.  I’m seriously considering making something for me with the rest of the double gauze, which is saying a lot since I only sew for my kids ;)

The fit on the dress is great!  I did size down on the bodice since Mae has such tiny shoulders, but that’s pretty typical for a cap sleeve dress.  I ended up attaching a 2T skirt to the 12 months bodice to get a perfect fit.  Marte was great to work with for getting the right size and she even includes a section on achieving a perfect fit in the pattern.

The only change I made to the pattern was purely cosmetic.  I chose not to fold down the collar because I love the “v” notch.  The nice thing is if I change my mind later, all I have to do is add a couple of buttons to match the pockets :)  And speaking of pockets, Mae decided she needed to count all of “her” pockets on the dress.  Either she knows of a few hidden pockets, or we need to work a little more on the concept of counting ;)

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Thanks Teri for this perfect Nani Iro candy style Lotta! You made me wanna use my own first piece of this amazing fabric (which I own in a different color: no pink for me anymore after my first pink adventure!). I love both Lotta dresses you made so far! I add a glimpse of your test Lotta, because I think both dresses shown how different the result can be, just depending on the fabric choices you make!

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You can buy the Lotta dress pattern in MY SHOP for only 7 euro. During the pattern tour, you’ll get a 10% discount with this code: LAUNCH-LOTTA.

You can also win a free copy of the pattern on Teri’s blog!