Fall Knit Dress in Orange

Yesterday I finished up this comfy, cozy, burnt orange dress for lily to wear this fall. 

Then it snowed.  

Apparently that "a day late and a dollar short" mantra that has been following me around lately hasn't been beat quite yet. Thankfully, I can still pretend it's not 16 degrees outside since the snow melted away and denial is on my side. 

So, I'm still calling this a fall knit dress.

Lily really seems to like it.

It's a pattern I've had around for quite some time. It's the Welcome to Autumn Dress from Too Sweets Patterns. You can find it on their Etsy shop. Welp, I tried to link this baby up & it is no longer listed in their shop. But you can look at the other patterns they have to offer HERE.  I've used it at least 4 times prior and with them under my belt I came at this dress ready to fix a few things I wasn't jiving with. 

First, it says dress but I would consider it more of a tunic. The listing pictures are pretty dead on and show it hitting mid thigh (a bit short for my taste). I added an extra 6 inches to the bottom but looking at it now, I could have kept it at 4 inches. I hadn't decided whether I would add the elastic waist to it yet & thought if I did I'd want it extra long. In the end, I chose not to& that left it a pretty lengthy. 

Second, the sleeves are too short. Even after adding an extra 1 3/4 inches to the pattern I found them to be well above her wrists. Granted, I was still using the size 4t pattern (and she's 5) but that's only about 1/4 inch difference in the pattern & that would not have done much. I will also mention lily is in the 95% for height so this could also be part of the issue. I just assumed nearly 2 inches would be plenty to fix it& it wasn't. I easily remedied it by grabbing the cuff to my recess raglan & adding that to the sleeve rather than hemming and using the shirring method the pattern called for. 

Random photo from today, two sick kids who love on each other and smile? yeah, I thought it was a keeper too!

Even though I had to make the slight changes, I really like this pattern. The directions are clear and it comes together very quickly. Lily seemed to be happy with it as I asked her to wear it today and she didn't even huff once. She rarely lets me pick out her clothing, even if I were to pick exactly what she wanted, she'd probably still protest. 

I'm off to go do some selfish sewing, whoopie! 

Have a great afternoon wherever you may be.