Twinsies!
My stepdaughter loves when we match. Though to her matching just means we both have on black shoes or red shirts or jeans. Any time we have on anything remotely similar she says "Look, we match!" or "Hey, were twins!".
I'm not sure why it took me so long to think of this but I finally decided to make us matching dresses so that we could really be twins. I found this watercolor rainbow striped ponte at my local fabric store and thought it would be great for a set of mommy and me spring dresses. My stepdaughter was with me on this trip so I asked her what she thought and what did she say she liked better? ...houndstooth. She is such a fashionista! I love houndstooth but I had pictured something colorful in mind so I purchased the rainbow fabric, though I still bought the houndstooth for a future project.
I'll start with her dress. I usually self draft her clothes even though I have a few girls patterns. I used one of her t-shirts as a pattern for the bodice of her dress and cropped it to the desired length. Because I neglected to account for the fact that the stretch in my fabric wasn't as great as T-shirt fabric so I had to let it out some. For the skirt I cut two rectangles about 4-5 inches wider than the bottom of the bodice (or her waist) by the length I wanted for the skirt. After folding and basting a box pleat at the center of each panel I attached both panels together at the side seams then attached the skirt to the bodice. All that was left was the arm, neck and skirt hems.My dress was a total failed attempt of M6752. My fabric choice is to blame, not the pattern so I'm going to try again before writing an actual pattern review. I attempted view B but the ponte was just too heavy to drape properly. Surely this is why M6752 calls for a jersey knit. I've used non recommended fabric before for others patterns with no problem but I didn't think this one through. Thankfully the skirt fit nicely so I was able to save (somewhat) the dress by cutting the bodice of M6744 view A out of the failed bodice and some of my scraps.
So although not at all pleased with my dress since hers was adorable we wore them to brunch Sunday. We received so many compliments while we were out and about and she just loved the attention. I guess mommy and me outfits are so common. I don't want to dress alike everyday but I must admit it was fun. Next up is making her American Doll a dress as well if I can scrounge up enough scraps. After that I guess I'll get to work on those houndstooth outfits.