I was pricing out some fabric for a youth activity for church and I came across this floral fabric at JoAnn. It's cute but perhaps a bit too much for something for me (I'm such a selfish sewer, I rarely think of projects for Penelope and Felix before projects for me). I had to buy it, though, the colors and drape were so nice. So a project for Penelope it was! Penelope certainly has a shortage of church-appropriate dresses these days. She has been growing by leaps and bounds. The travails of growing up! I wanted to make a cozy transitional spring dress that could work on cold spring days. It's about 10-20 degrees colder on the mountain where we live than down in the valley, so I'm trying to boost all of our wardrobes with light-weight long sleeves in preparation for spring. With her recent spurt in mind, I made her a simple jersey dress that hits just below her calf. This should fit her for at least the next year. I hope! I used one of her shirts to draft up the top, but I just estimated around the sleeves since I made just a batwing sleeve so I wouldn't have to inset sleeves (I'm lazy, I know). I then attached the batwing top to a rectangular skirt (about 4x Penelope's waist). This fabric has a four-way stretch so to keep it from losing its shape, I reinforced the waist seam with narrow elastic. It's all on the inside, so you don't see it. It's soft enough that Penelope doesn't even notice it. For the hem finishes, I just made bands at the neck, waist and bottom hem. It was easy enough and I had enough fabric left over to do that. She's pretty thrilled with her new outfit. Her reaction when I showed her the finished dress was just priceless. I really wish I had it on camera. I can't help but feel so giddy to see her say, "Oh mommy!!! It's for me?!? *gasp* It's so beeeauteeful!" The success of this project has really gotten me excited for Easter outfits. I have the perfect fabric in mind for all of us. I'll have to upload sketches soon. Growing up we had a family tradition of new church outfits (matching, sewn by my mom) and I plan to try to keep that tradition as long as I can. Do you do that? What are your plans?