Patchwork Geranium Dress
June has finally brought warm weather to The Netherlands. After an unusually long and cool spring, we’re feeling the sun on our legs and looking for some water to splash around in. Time to welcome summer with a new sundress for Elora!
My little girl is 4 1/2 years old, such a great age for mama-made clothes. She loves wearing dresses, skirts, tops - anything I make for her. Luckily, she keeps growing and keeps needing new clothes. I had planned to sew something different, but when I came across that woven pink yardage from Anna Maria Horner’s Loominous II collection, it felt right. The pink striped woven is so soft to the touch and sweetly colored. Plus, it’s been lingering in my small stash of garment fabrics since before she was born!
Sponsor of the Week
Purple Stitches
Any one of these charming Wildflower fabrics by Kelly Ventura would make a perfectly delightful dress for a special little girl. The collection even includes a blender print, which would work nicely as a bodice.
Purple Stitches also has the Geranium pattern for sizes 6 through 12 and ships from the UK.
After considering other options, I circled back to the tried and true Geranium pattern. Turns out I haven’t made a Geranium dress for her in two years, after all! I’ve been venturing into new patterns instead. Geranium is a classic empire waist dress with lots of customization options - definitely a solid investment if you’re sewing for a girl.
Anyhoo, my 1 yard cut of the pink fabric is just barely enough for a skirt (I’m sewing size 5T ). Luckily garment fabric scraps will suffice for the bodice. The yellow stripe fabric is a voile also by Anna Maria Horner. Didn’t have quite enough of that for the outer bodice and lining - - - so that’s when the Liberty of London floral lawn came into play. But then why hide Liberty? It seems I have created a patchwork of a dress.
Perhaps to balance out the color and pattern play, I’ve chosen the simplest Geranium lines - the tank dress with a subtle pleated skirt. Of course Elora looks perfectly charming in it! Little girls always do in just about anything.
I can definitely imagine her wearing this dress for a bit of sightseeing or a special lunch on our Provencal French vacation in July. I’m so looking forward to a long getaway together and time again by the sea. It’s only a month away! Fingers crossed all goes well so that it is safe to travel.
