Grow With Me Dresses and Tops

My mom and I laugh about it now, but when I was little, I used to get so frustrated when I would see something in the store that I wanted and my mom (being a very talented seamstress) would always say, “I could make that for you!” and then she would go on about how everything was so poorly made blah, blah, blah… 😉

Flash forward 30 years (what?! no!!!) and here I am finding myself doing the same thing! Yikes!!! About 3 years ago, I finally took out that sewing machine that my mom had given to me one Christmas. I had seen a couple of dresses that some of the little girls were wearing at my daughter’s pre-school and thought to myself, “I know that I could buy those in some of the local boutiques (for some ridiculous amount), but honestly, they don’t look like they would be too difficult to make!” I made my first pillowcase dress shortly after that…no pattern necessary 🙂

my daughter proudly modeling her first dress made by me back in 2009 (pardon the unprofessional photo!)

My niece. Same dress, 3 years later…professional photo 🙂

After seeing this picture, I realized that the 2 types of dresses that I make the most can both “grow with you” and go from dress to tunic top in just a matter of years! Another plus for me and for all the people who have received one of these dresses over the past few years. Here is a little reversible swing top dress that I made as a photo prop for my friend, Christina, of Bees Knees Photography www.beeskneesphotographync.com

Reversible swing top dress worn by a 1 year old (as a dress).

Same “dress” worn by Christina’s 3 year old as a top

And just for good measure. This was the first reversible dress that I ever made. Again, this was made over 2 years ago. Just thought I would show some then and now pictures with the same dress (that has held up quite nicely, I must say!).

My daughter when she was 3.

same dress, same child…2 years later 🙂