Adventures In Sewing Part 5--Popover Sundress

Would you believe I'm feeling so confident making the toddler a-line dress that I actually started feeling bored with it?  I decided to check around the web to see if there were any easy peasy freebies around, just to try something new.  I found an adorable dress from Oliver + S, the Popover Sundress, a completely free downloadable pattern and instructions.  Score!

The great thing about the Kwik Sew pattern is that it takes up almost exactly one yard of fabric with very little scrap.  Downside to the Oliver + S pattern is that it takes up a little more fabric because it is much longer than the a-line dress.   Okay, its not really a downside because it gave me and babygirl a great excuse to go fabric shopping!  This was an adorable adventure, it was so fun to see her picking out fabrics, hefting all those bolts into the cart was so cute!  She made some great choices but boy did I learn my lesson about taking her to the fabric store, girl has less self control than me! ;)

On to the dresses...this was my first time making bias straps, which turned out to be not as bad as I thought it would be.  Ended up having some trouble with the ends of the straps, but thanks to my dear Ruby Murray's brilliant solution of knotting the ends to stop fraying, the day was saved and I finished it up rather quickly.

This fabric was an absolute STEAL!!!  Had only planned to buy two yards to make the Popover Sundress, but when we got to the cutting table the employee told me that it was only 58 cents a yard!  Woohoo I bought all they had left, a little over four yards.  It reminds me of Little House on the Prairie for some reason, and ERL called it "the carrot fabric", but babygirl loves the dress so much!  What to do with the other two and a half yards?

A few days after making the carrot dress, ERL came home early and took all three monsters to the library so I could have a little peace and quiet (he's so cool!).  Decided it was a great chance to get some uninterrupted sewing time and make another sundress.  This fabric babygirl calls the dandelion fabric, and after a closer look i realized the little circles do kinda look like her favorite phase of dandelion :)

She's attempting some sort of fashion diva pose here, the silly girl.  Took a bunch of photos and this was the best one, heehee.  This was done in just over two hours and was completed with ZERO seam ripping involved woooooohooo!

We've got a laundry basket full of fabric for babygirls' future dresses, and I compulsively bought four yards of this at IKEA the other night...

I'm thinking its about time for momma to get a sundress...anybody know a good commercial sundress pattern for women?