Peakaboo Paisley Dress

In the four short months that I have been back at work several people in the office have had babies.  I count seven?  I've been wanting to make a few gifts for the cuties but never found the time (sad excuse, I know).

In fact, could it be that the only thing I've made since going back to work was my cape?  Yes.  How disappointing.  At least I'm cheered up that spring is arriving (and no, I don't agree that it's already here despite what the calendar says).  Very soon it'll be warm enough outside that I can sport my cape on a regular basis :)

I really enjoy making baby gifts, partly because it's a great excuse to use the most colourful and whimsical of fabrics and partly because they usually don't take that long to make!

Here is my latest project, a pretty-in-pink little dress I finished just this weekend.  Aren't long weekends wonderful?

Snap buttons and a lace collar

I had an urge to use up the rest of my Peakaboo Partridge and Pink Paisley fabrics and I just didn't think they were well suited for little boys.  Well, at least not the Pink Paisley.  I've already used the Partridge for one of Adam's summer hats.  Just my luck - earlier this month along came baby Noelle!  I hope you don't mind a bit of pink and a bit of frills because you're getting some of each.

Pink elastic lace trim for the sleeves and white piping for detailing

Although I like the look of buttons and buttonholes I decided instead to use hook-and-loop tape for the back enclosure. I'm somewhat paranoid about making baby gifts with buttons that could become a choking hazard.  I did choose to use white snap buttons as detailing in the front but those are solidly fixed in place with pliers so I'm not worried about them coming off.  Actually if it weren't for the fact that the two halves of the snap buttons haven't been snapping together very well lately I would have used them on the back!

Yellow lining peeking through from the inside

Of course I added piping (love, love, love) and then I lined the whole dress with a yellow polyester just to give it a bit more weight and so it would feel nice a slippery against a baby's soft skin.

Now I'm just waiting for some new BlueTuque labels that I recently ordered for fun.  No, BlueTuque isn't going to be the name of my new business but I thought at least for some of the random gifts I make here and there it would be nice to have a little label that's my own.  Photos of the labels to come; stay tuned.