Sewing for Little Girls

Sometimes I get a craving to sew little girl's clothing. Something about the little ruffles, gathers, and full skirts just get me.  I don't have a daughter of my own, but I have a few nieces that receive handmade items from time to time. And they are pretty cute; they could make anything look good. :)
I really don't have much experience, and I find clothing trickier to make than a quilt. But I couldn't pass up the sale patterns at Joann's a while back and decided to just give it a go.

I picked up this pattern, Simplicity 2193....

...and figured that if I picked some cute fabric - and avoided those ridiculously huge arm ruffles - it might turn out ok. 

I wanted to see what other fabrics had been used to make this dress, so I did a little searching and found this post at Un Petite Design. Glad I did; great tips there! Her dresses turned out so cute!

I followed her alternate directions for assembling the yoke, and though it was pretty finicky to turn inside out, I was all for reducing the need for bias tape!

Here's the end result:

I opted for a zipper instead of buttons. Not great at installing either, but I think this will work.

My craving has been satisfied....for now. :) But when I feel the need to work on some more girly projects, here are a few I am eying:

Here's the Katelin Dress from Brynberlee Designs.

Or maybe the Birthday Party Dress from The Lily Bird Studio.

How cute is this little romper? (Probably has a lot to do with the model, right?) I found this in the Peek-a-Boo pattern shop.

And these tiered skirts are cute, with the detail of an extra layer at the bottom. Get the free tutorial here: Ruffled Skirts.