Of Sundresses, Panties, and Crafty Cliches

So over the weekend I stole some sewing time. I made Thea Belle and her doll coordinating sundresses. I based the pattern (which is super simple with no zippers or buttons and a self-lining on the bodice) on a dress my mom found at a garage sale for 25 cents.  The entire little dress has only 3 different shapes: a rectangle for the skirt, rectangles with sides swoops for the front and back bodice, and a trapezoid-y shape for the top ties.

And my favorite, favorite part is that I made tiny little panties for her doll. Don't ask me why I had a couple pairs of never-worn grown-up underwear in my scrap pile...but...I took a pair and cut it down to size, re-using the original bindings for the leg openings and even keeping the printed back tag in the right place to make them look fancy store-bought. When I was a little girl I loved dolls and their clothes. The very first thing I would do when introduced to a new doll was to look and see if they had underwear that could come on and off. Every time I see Thea Belle's doll there in her cheery dress and soft bright panties my heart is happy in the safest little-girl kind of way. And I don't even care that I am posting this as a stay-at-home-mom craft project. I will be a cliche for this. (Ask me sometime about cliches in mothering and home-making because I have totally had a philosophical/theological break-through as I have worked through thinking about that little sucker.)

Thea's reaction to the new outfit was pretty happy (which is her reaction to most things, especially related to dresses and shoes) but she immediately said "Meow!" and wondered why the panties didn't have Hello Kitty on them like hers do. But thankfully she didn't get stuck on that for long.