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When grandchildren are babies, or at least fairly young, we can make pretty things that please us and, hopefully,\u00c2\u00a0 their mothers.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, after some time, our target audience becomes opinionated little ones.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what happened with this special request from 3 yo Vivian Rose.<\/p>\n
“Please make me a kitty cat dress, Nana,” she implored on her last visit.\u00c2\u00a0 Having put The Incident\u00c2\u00a0 <\/a>behind us, making her a new dress seemed just the right gesture for assurance of forgiveness.<\/p>\n This child is fixated on cats.\u00c2\u00a0 Their family pet is a 17 year old feline who went to college with Vivi’s father and has been with him ever since.\u00c2\u00a0 So Vivi has daily interaction with a cat, elderly though she is.<\/p>\n When I spotted this fabric at my favorite fabric haunt, The Sewing Studio<\/a> in Maitland, FL,\u00c2\u00a0 I knew Vivian would love it.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Not only that, the black background would make her mother happy, who declares this active child’s clothes have a chance of surviving the school year if they are black denim.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even so, the fabric seemed a little too feline for my taste, but I wasn’t buying for me.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t get me wrong–I love cats, but mostly in smaller numbers.<\/p>\n Challenges arose as soon as I began to cut it out.\u00c2\u00a0 Those rows of cats are not printed precisely on grain.\u00c2\u00a0 I dealt with a similar problem many years ago, but wisdom learned then was forgotten in my haste to make this for my precious little cat girl.\u00c2\u00a0 So a choice had to be made between going with the weave of the fabric or with the print.\u00c2\u00a0 I went with the print.<\/p>\n The pattern was Annie’s Sundress<\/em> by Primrose Lane.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a very nice pattern with a lined bodice and just two shoulder buttons or\u00c2\u00a0 ties as closures.\u00c2\u00a0Easy peasy—if you are dealing with a less fussy print.\u00c2\u00a0 The wide size range is a bonus.<\/p>\n The inverted pleat at the skirt’s center front was omitted.\u00c2\u00a0 I had almost torn my hair out trying to get complete cat faces at the side seams (no way),\u00c2\u00a0 at the hemline (required fabric be cut a little off grain) and at center front of the bodice.\u00c2\u00a0 I wasn’t up to fiddling with two pleat folds through those cat heads.<\/p>\n This dress is actually a suggested variation included in the pattern. The lining was reversed on the back so the straps offered contrast against the bodice.<\/p>\n I had hoped that the pink gingham lining and gray gingham piping would cut the roaring purr that emanated from the fabric when my back was turned.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photobombed by our Hannah who believes there are too many cats in the world. \u00c2\u00a0 And certainly, too many on this dress.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Vivi loves pockets so I thought gingham pockets would reduce the annoyance of the huge clowder. FYI, a “clowder” or “glaring” is what you call a group of cats, like a herd of cattle or a flock of geese.\u00c2\u00a0 I had to look that up.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A tiny button sewn through the nose holds the pocket flap in place.<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n But the pockets made little difference in the overall appearance.\u00c2\u00a0 Still too many cats.<\/p>\n To find satisfactory buttons, I ended up stacking three together, a gray 4-hole,\u00c2\u00a0 a green 4-hole, and finally a tiny 2-hole flower.\u00c2\u00a0 This was a little tricky because the distance between the holes varied.<\/p>\n First, I lined all three up and held the stack to the light.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure enough with careful rotating I saw a glimmer of light through the two holes of the flower.\u00c2\u00a0 So the pink flower was hand sewn to the green button with a few stitches.\u00c2\u00a0 Then the tree were machine stitched to the strap.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’m always in a hurry.\u00c2\u00a0 If I had taken time to think this through, I would have used that cat print as a border at the hem.\u00c2\u00a0 Or as the skirt with a gingham bodice.\u00c2\u00a0 A dress like A-line\u00c2\u00a0 Children’s Corner Lucy<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0 would have avoided the gathers which added more and more cats to the dress.\u00c2\u00a0 Any one of these choices would have given Vivi her “kitty cat dress” and I would have been so much happier with the results.<\/p>\n I had planned to make a matching hanger, guided by Joanne Banko’s great project<\/a> at Brother’s blog, Stitching Sewcial<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 The cats would have been perfect for this style of hanger.\u00c2\u00a0 But I was no up for another cat projects.<\/p>\n The bottom line is that for Vivi, there is no such thing as too many kitty cats.\u00c2\u00a0 I think she will like the dress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When grandchildren are babies, or at least fairly young, we can make pretty things that please us and, hopefully,\u00c2\u00a0 their mothers.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, after some time, our target audience becomes opinionated little ones.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what happened with this special request … Continue reading ![\"cat-fabricfi300xx\"](\"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/cat-fabricFI300xx.jpg\")
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