linen flower dress

These smock/jumper style dresses were Violet's summer uniform.  When I made them, I assumed she'd wear a onesie underneath, but I forgot how sticky and horrible the summer is here.  I was glad to have a bunch of light dresses to throw on over a diaper.

The flower on this dress is made from some leftover linen quilt binding.  It was two inches wide and then folded in half; I did a basting stitch down the raw edge and then gathered it into a ruffle.  I coiled it into a vaguely floral shape while hand stitching it in place from the wrong side; if hand sewing ruffly flowers sounds like a major undertaking, understand that this step took about five minutes.  I then hand tacked it onto the dress (another five minutes).  I was pretty sure it would turn to shit in the wash, but it held up miraculously well.  The laundry gods smiled on me with this one.