Avery Dress

Hello lovely blog visitors. I have so many sewing projects to blog about that it is ridiculous....who knows if I will actually get around to them all, but I am determined to get some of them up here. So today I am going to share with you a pattern that I bought a couple of months ago and absolutely LOVE! It's the Avery dress by Modkid patterns. I have been a modkid fan for years, I love the interesting patters and all the lovely bright fabrics. The Avery grabbed me straight away. It is a drop waisted dress with buttons down the front and a peter pan collar. There are a few different variations to this pattern and it has fast become one of my all time favourites.

The pattern is sized from size 2 through to 10 and is available in short or long sleeves, making it perfect for winter. It is designed for woven fabrics. I guess you could use a stable knit as well, but I think this is one that is best suited to woven fabrics. Here's a picture of the first one I made

This particular dress headed on over to Perth for my nieces 9th birthday. She absolutely loved it (why wouldn't you) and this Jennifer Paganelli fabric was perfect for it. I added some lace and some piping and it turned out really well.

I have to admit, I am a little obsessed with my snap press machine, so I ditched the buttons and buttonholes and added snaps down the front instead.

This was such a winner that I went straight ahead and made another one for my niece, Emma, for her birthday. Emma loves blue, but is third in a family of 4 girls. She naturally wears alot of clothing handed down from her sisters, and not alot of it is blue, so I like to make her blue things because I know how much she appreciates it. Isn't she just divine!!!

Once again I added a bit of lace and some piping and went with snaps instead of buttons.

One of the things I love about this pattern is that the sizing is spot on. I have mentioned it before, but with so many new people selling pdf patterns online, it can be hard to sort the great ones from the good and not so good. I really have issues with patterns not being sized well. It frustrates me to buy them, spend all that time printing and sticking them together, sewing it up, only to find that the whole thing pretty much needs to be resized. This one is perfect. I've made it in 6 different sizes now and they have been all a perfect fit.

The other thing I love about this is the drop waist. It makes it so practical for girls of all shapes and sizes, especially girls that are a little older. I am finding the more I sew, that girls bodies really differ dramatically from about size 7 onwards. So many lovely dresses rely heavily on getting the waistine in exactly in the right place. That can be quite tricky if the girl is not in front of you, and you have had to rely on measurements from someone who hasn't got it quite right, or for a girl who suddenly has a growth spurt and shoots up overnight. The drop waist is perfect for older girls. The lower skirt is still quite full and girly, but it is beautifully balanced by the more plain bodice and peter pan collar.

The instructions are clear, well thought out, and the dress comes together more quickly than it looks like it will from the pictures.

And before I forget, this one is also available in short and long sleeves. I have used fabrics with busy prints here, but you could make it in plainer prints and add details to the bodice, like a pocket and some belt loops that are also included in the pattern. There will be many many more Averys in my future….

Marnie