Best Shot(s) Monday--Cadence, Cadence and More Cadence

This is Cadence lounging around on the dining room floor Saturday morning. She's waiting for our friend, her Uncle Erik, to wake up. He got in the night before super late, so she was asleep when he got there, and he was sleeping in Saturday morning in Cadence's playroom. As soon as she woke up, she wanted to go wake him up, but I made her wait. We went and picked up our vegetables, dropped them off at home, had breakfast at our local coffeehouse, browsed a little thrift store (where she picked up that Pooh bear on the floor for a quarter), and finally came back home close to 11am, at which point she planted herself on the floor outside Erik's door.

She occasionally got up to do a little dance or just run around, but for the most part she stuck to the floor and would ask every 10 seconds, "Is he awake yet? What's he doing?"

She finally couldn't contain her curiosity any longer and started spying on Erik through the crack underneath the door. Then she started saying, "I think he's awake now! I see his feet moving!"

Cadence ADORES her Uncle Erik, and Ted and I are also very happy to have him with us. For Ted, it's like a big sleep-over with his best friend, except instead of ghost stories and flashlights and candy and soda, it's lots of beer and a late-night showing of The Dark Knight.

So while the boys were at the movies Saturday night, after I put Cadence to sleep, I happened to check the mailbox and found that some fabric I'd ordered from Etsy had come in. I was so excited that I made a dress that very night.

The fabric is a cotton-linen blend from a Japanese designer, so this was my first time making something for Cadence that wasn't made out of a t-shirt. It's actually a lot easier to sew by hand than t-shirt material because it is stiffer than jersey. I loved how the 1/2 yard length was perfect for folding in half and making this dress. I also loved how I could use the edge of the fabric as the hem so that I didn't have to sew an actual hem myself. I think it's kinda cool to have the fabric name and that frayed edge as the hem.

FYI, I don't know how to use a pattern, so that dress was simply made by laying another dress on top of the fabric (which was folded in half) and tracing around the other dress directly onto the fabric. I made the shoulders where the fabric was folded in half, and then I just sewed the sides of the dress (before cutting the fabric)in an A-line shape, cut the armholes and neck, and voila! Dress! When Cadence woke up the next morning, I had her try it on, and adjusted the shoulders a bit by scrunching them a little at the top. I may still do something about the neck and armholes, maybe put an edge on it w/ a blanket stitch or something to keep the fabric from unraveling, or I may just leave it as is. I like things that are rough around the edges anyhow.

You can see more folk's Best Shots on Tracey' Mother May I.