Dress for my niece

As you may or may not remember, my first niece was born in January last year. She is the most beautiful, happiest, sweetest little thing! When I started thinking what to make her for Christmas and looking on Ravelry and Etsy for crocheted patterns for babies. I fell in love with all the tiny hats and booties and thought I could make her an adorable little set! At Thanksgiving I mentioned it to my step mom, Lonnie and she said it was a great idea. My Dad chimed in though that at the moment it's impossible to keep a hat on her let alone anything on her feet. Apparently she's always taking her shoes and socks off, bummer! I had noticed quite a few little crochet dress patterns during my searches but some were just too frilly and ridiculous while others looked really difficult. If it wasn't Christmas and I didn't have a big ol' list of other stuff to make I might have felt more confident with spending a lot of time on one. However, with all the other stuff I was making I knew I'd run out of time. Lonnie thought a dress would be perfect though, DOH!
I asked what size she is wearing now since I always hear that babies don't actually wear the size that goes along with however many months old they are. Good thing I asked because she is just about to be a year old but is wearing 18 month old clothes. I searched and searched some more for a dress pattern that didn't look impossible or too freaking frilly. I mean I get that she's a little girl but she's not a doll! Anyway, I kept going back to this one dress from Crochet Garden...it is just so cute! I thought it looked so beautiful in the bright red so I used Vanna's Choice in scarlett. I got to work on this little gem and was so pleasantly surprised at how easy the pattern was to follow. It's worked from top to bottom and is almost all one piece. The straps are separate pieces you make afterward. I stuck with white ribbon and little roses. I also decided to buy a little white turtleneck she could wear with it.
When I went back to the ER for my pancreas I brought it with me to work on because I figured I'd be waiting a while. I'm glad I brought it because I got a lot done and it actually sparked a conversation between myself and some other people in the ER waiting room. I was sitting all by myself when all of a sudden a big group of people, a few years younger than me came in and sat all right around me. I came to find out the one guys mom was in a car accident and rushed to the hospital. All of his friends came with him for support which I thought was wonderful, they were like a family themselves. Well we were all sitting there and after a while one of the girls asked what I was making. I held it up and showed her it was going to be a dress for my neice. At that point the top was done and I was about 1/3 of the way through the skirt. She of course "Oooed" and all the other friends looked and they started asking all kinds of questions. How did I learn to do that? How long does it take? When do I find the time to do it? And what not. It was kind of nice to talk to them since we were sitting right next to each other and were all in kind of crappy situations at the moment. Plus they were all what I refer to as "gangsters". I mean they aren't really, they're just all spanish kids who grew up in Allentown, ya know...like urban and hip hop kids. So, we're really different people but we were talking about crocheting, it was funny to think about afterward.

Anyway, once I finished the dress I have to say I was pretty impressed with myself. It's just so beautiful! Jeremy kept commenting on it as well which definitely means something. I was so excited for Christmas Eve and everyone to see it. Basically only Lonnie, Jessie and Jeremy knew I made it. I didn't even tell my step sister, Karyn or my brother in law Keith that I was making it. Before we opened gifts Karyn was talking about how she has been looking for a dress for Lindsay's first birthday party but hasn't been able to find anything she's liked. Lonnie and I both looked at each other and giggled. Karyn was saying she really wanted something purple since the baby is always in pink which was kind of a let down. Once they opened it, everyone was so surprised! My Aunt even said that it's a family heirloom which kind of made me almost cry. I mean that's a pretty serious thing I think. Everyone went on and on about it and asking me all kinds of questions about it too. Later on Karyn told me that they are going to have Lindsay wear it at her birthday, that means so much to me!!!
I can't wait to see her in it and get pictures. For now all I have are the pictures I took before I wrapped it. (LOTS OF PICTURES!)







Isn't it the cutest little thing?!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're having an awesome day!

Jamie