Ruby's 'New' Dress

Have you checked out what's happening over at Mummy's Busy World lately?  A fabulous link-up showing off your kid's style, rocking their outfits.

I'm joining in this week, with a creation of my own - style's about attitude not how much money you spend, right?

So, if you read my Magpie Monday post yesterday, you'll know I got this dress with a beautiful floral pattern. It's not Liberty but the style reminds me of their gorgeous designs and it feautres spring-time flowers - purple violets and yellow blooms on a forest green background.  Pop over to yesterday's post to see how much I paid for it!!

Here it is laid out with one of Ruby's current dresses, for scale.

I set about it with my scissors, and using a very simple pattern by McCalls which I used previously on her strawberry print dress, I turned it from a size 18 lady's smock, to a dress for a 4 year old.

I removed the patch pockets and re-attached them.  Super simple, the only slightly tricky bit was the bias binding on the neckline and arm holes, but it's only my second clothing make and I managed it with no puckering - yay!

Then I made her a matching hair clip, in the same way as I'd made the felt heart one.  This time I used a scrap of green leather and some of the dress fabric (bondawebbed first to stop it fraying).

She stole my green scarf too!

I was sorting my craft stuff out and came across a bag of leather scraps which were given to me by our cobbler.  A brilliant shoemaker, he was a great personality and the only person my old man would trust with his beloved Church's brogues.  I read in the paper this weekend he sadly passed away, so this is my little homage to him.

He gave us some great tips for prolonging the life of our shoes, which I'll pass on to you:

• Always store with wooden shoe trees - preferably cedar wood which has anti bacterial properties
• Don't wear the same pair for 2 days running to give them a chance to recover
• Don't wear your best shoes for driving as you'll get uneven heel wear

Anyhow, I digress, but I wanted to say Dio vi benedica Mario.

So, what do you think of my creation? Too cool for school?

Ruby's wearing:

Dress and Hairclip - handmade
Green Long sleeved T shirt - Tesco
Bottle Green tights - H&M
Purple Leather Boots - Bo-Belle from Angels & Urchins

This blog post is part of the Thrifty families blog carnival over at Family Budgeting pop on over!