Butterfly Easter Dress

My little girl will be about a month old for Easter this year, so I thought I'd plan ahead and get a little dress ready.

I found the butterfly cotton print at Walmart for $1.50/yard.

The tangerine eyelet was a scrap from a dress I made back in 2006. 

I made the tangerine dress for a big graduation trip my husband and I took to Italy.  It was light, cool, and comfortable.  When I made it back then, it seemed really out of place, but now it seems like waisted dresses are all over.  My husband says it reminds him of a waitress uniform at a 50s diner...ya, I can see that.  Just missing the apron, the gum, but I do have the snotty attitude.

Rome was amazing, except the day we dedicated to the Vatican and I crapped my pants.

But back to this little easter dress using my Rome dress scraps.

This was really easy, just a big tube for the skirt.  I sewed the layers together in one big rectangle, then had one seam for the back.

For the bodice, I cut it really wide, then shirred it up using the elastic thread in my bobbin and rows 1/4" apart.

The sleeves create the shoulder, like a baseball tee.  Then to cinch the neck all together, I made a casing with a 2" strip of tangerine cut on the bias and laced 1/4" elastic through.

So far I have this satin flower headband to coordinate and I've thought about making some baby shoes out of the scraps to match.

This really was a simple dress to make.  I was kind of winging it, and it ended up turning out alright, so let me know if anyone is interested in a pattern/ tutorial.

PS I know how to avoid all the bunch at the waist for next time.