Holiday Shift Dress and Lace Leggings

I stitched up this darling and simple shift dress for Addie to wear for the holidays.  At age 3, she wants nothing much to do with any clothing other than pajamas, stretchy pants, and simple dresses.  I knew that she would refuse to wear anything frilly or fancy and this little pattern was absolutely perfect.  It’s the new Go To Patterns Shift Dress.  (affiliate links) It’s just two pieces, with bias tape around the neckline, armholes, and keyhole cutout in the back.  I used a silk/cotton blend for the dress – it’s called Radiance by Robert Kauffman, the same fabric that I used to make the pink princess gown last year, the stuff is dreamy.  To coordinate with the lace dress Grace would be wearing for Christmas, I imagined that this shift dress would pair great with some black lace tights or leggings.  I wasn’t able to find stretch black lace locally, so I attempted to dye a white lace.  I used the stove top method with salt for black Rit dye on this nylon/cotton/spandex blend lace and it came out with a rich, even blackness.  I used the Go To Leggings pattern to make a pair of footless tights; I skipped hemming the pants – they took about 10 minutes to sew together – love that pattern.  Of course, the chances of convincing Addie to have her picture taken are slim to none.  When she put the leggings on late Sunday afternoon and requested a photo shoot, I JUMPED to get the dress on her and race outside.

You’ll have to excuse the blurry, less than ideal pictures.  The kid is adorable, the clothes are awesome, the photography is poooooooor.  But, I wasn’t looking at my camera settings, I was just trying to click the shutter as fast as I could before the little boss called the whole thing off.  See her grand finale down there in the corner?  She busted out her 60’s dance moves – plugged her nose and shimmied all the way down to the ground, laughing hysterically.  Amazing how much of her personality I caught even if the pictures aren’t grand!