Millie Rose Double Ruffle Dress Pattern Test

 

I was tickled to be given my first opportunity to test a pattern this fall for the fabulous Millie Rose Patterns. I tested the Millie Rose Double Ruffle Dress PDF pattern and immediately fell in LOVE. The instructions were absolutely spot on and the results were fabulous! The dress looks much more complicated to make than it actually is!

 

I chose to use some bright fabrics for this one- a chambray for the bodice paired with shades of bright blue, yellow, green and hot pink!

 

Unfortunately our weather turned super windy and cold just as I finished it up so pictures were a little bit tough. She did enjoy a chat with this duck though!

 

It looks great from any angle in my opinion ; )

 

And I got to use one of these fabulous large personalized buttons from Pick Your Plum! Millie Rose also offers a fabulous tutorial on adding a button on flower that I didn't attempt on this one but hope to very soon!

 

 

This dress just makes you want to dance!

 

 

Looking forward to sewing up a few more of these as well as Millie Rose's other great patterns!

 

 

Magnetic board for toddler fun!

With three littles we somehow acquired a LOT of magnetic toys over the years. Different number and letter sets, dress up dolls, and animals (they are not all in this picture). When we moved I decided we needed a better place to put them all. Unfortunately, they only stick to the side of our stainless steel fridge and that left very little space. We had a perfect little half wall by the stairs to our playroom so I went out searching for just the right thing to fill that space. I found this 2 foot by 3 foot piece of sheet metal at Lowe's for less than $10! Score!

I then just took this piece of sheet metal down the street to our Hobby Lobby who happened to have ready made open back frames half price that week and had them pop this in and add a backing. Really, it was that easy! I just brought it home, added some hangers and stuck it on the wall and the kids were super excited!

I decided to choose a frame that I thought we could use elsewhere in our house once the kids outgrow this stage. I thought it would be functional in a future office or kitchen to hang pictures, invitations, artwork, notes, etc.

Another fun thing I did was copy their Melissa & Doug magnetic dress up sets so the pieces could be used on the board as well.

 

The original set comes with a magnetic "doll" that you can add the clothes to, but the doll itself would not stick to the magnet board so I stuck him on my printer and just made a color copy on cardstock. I then added a small adhesive magnet to the back of the paper and they are now able to play dress up on the board or on the figures.

 

 

Adding a Brownie Goose Hattie Sleeve to the Brownie Goose Tilly

Since the weather can be pretty chilly in the North West I was looking to find a way to bring the Tilly into the winter months. Although she looks adorable layered- I wanted to try her with a sleeve. I adore the sweet gathered look of the Brownie Goose Hattie sleeve (in the floral print below) and decided to try adding them to the Tilly (shown sleeveless in pink below).

Once you have purchased both your Hattie and Tilly patterns from the Brownie Goose shop, Cut your Hattie sleeves per pattern and construct by gathering and attaching armbands:

Construct your bodice per pattern and flip right sides out. Now I am sure that one of you brilliant ladies can tell me how to get the sleeve sandwiched between my bodice and lining layers but I just couldn’t figure it out this time… so once I flipped right side out this was what my bodice looked like:

I then pinned my Hattie sleeve in place following along the opening of the Tilly bodice like so. Then stitch along this seam and serge the edges if desired and repeat for the other sleeve.

It should now look something like this:

Now pin the sleeves together and stitch starting at the arm bad and sewing down to the armpit.

Turn right side out and then following the directions for attaching a “closed” back skirt and you are done!