Charlie Dress

I have been following/admiring Mingo & Grace for awhile now, so i was super duper excited when she posted a testing call for her first pattern and picked little ole me as one of her testers!! Woohoo! And, I have to say, this is a good one. It’s unique from other patterns I have seen, but it’s a super simple/practical/adorable style! I love it…it really is one of my favorites recently! And Farrah (the designer behind it) is super talented and amazing and thorough in her pattern designing!!! The Charlie Dress Pattern is now available exclusively through The Sewing Rabbit’s Member Site (http://members.sewingrabbit.com). That is such an amazing deal, cause you get 2 other really awesome patterns all for such a steal! The Charlie Dress will also be available starting July 15th on the Mingo and Grace website (http://www.mingoandgrace.com)

During testing, I actually made 3 of these…2 in the first round (one cotton and one knit) and then another after she tweaked the fit a bit (even though I thought my first versions turned out great and Lucy wears all three all the time!). Ok, so I’ll start with my 3rd version since it’s my favorite! This is size 12 months with 18 month length and I used linen for the whole thing. The directions walk you through putting a button/loop closure, but I switched it up and put in an exposed zipper…so cool!

And a few pics of my 1st version…this is a size 18 months made out of some awesome tie dyed fabric that my mom bought in China and hesitantly gave to me 😉

For my second version, I used knit and I eliminated the closure and instead of using a bias tape facing (as the pattern calls for), I used ribbing to finish the neck and armholes. I made the 12 month size, but didn’t lengthen it to the 18 month (as I should have for her height), so it’s a bit shorter than intended!