Friday, April 25, 2014

A Jennuine Design: The Matinee Dress




Spring in Oregon can be a little treacherous.  Often, it can rain days on end and you feel like it's just a sad continuation of the rainy season that we have nine months of the year.  Then all of a sudden, we get one glorious day when the sun comes out and the sky is blue, and the flowers start sprouting. 


We took a trip to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival on one of those glorious spring days, and it was the perfect opportunity to photograph B in her new Matinee Dress, which I had the pleasure of testing.  Jenn is the author of the lovely blog A Jennuine Life.  The Matinee dress is her first foray into the world of children's pdf patterns, and let me tell you, the pattern and tutorial are so impressive, professional, and thorough that you would never guess that she is a novice.  The steps are fully illustrated with computer graphics and the directions are concise with just enough details.  I'm excited to see more of her designs in the not too distant future.

The front has a sweet boat-neck, a sash right at the empire line and a simple drop waist with a gathered skirt.  But then, she turns around and you get this:


Is that not the cutest?  I just can't get enough of the back view.  B is on the slim side for her size, so I added an extra button in the back to make sure that her skivvies didn't accidentally peak out.  Jenn has since added a section on customizing the fit of the dress.  But honestly, I like that it's a little on the big side.  She will definitely get more wear out of this lovely dress.  And she is growing so fast that she'll probably outgrow it soon enough.


I really wanted to use this Heather Ross floral for B.  There are little bees flying around amongst the flowers.  Her nickname is Bee and she is busy, busy, busy!  I found the perfect plaid from my stash to match.  I think it's Riley Blake.

You can find the pattern on Etsy here.  It's on sale currently; just use the code MATINEE20 to receive 20 percent off.  Or you can hop onto craftsy and buy it at the already discounted rate.  And be sure to check out all the other tester's versions of the Matinee dress.  There are some crazy talented sewists/ photographers with beautiful children in this group.


I'll leave you with one last picture of B jumping for joy.

1 comment:

  1. Love the pictures in the tulips! She's really darling and your dress turned out wonderfully!

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