A Pony Birthday Dress

Our sweet little friend turned 4 last weekend and had a party at our local equestrian center where the kiddos got to feed horses and take little pony rides.  I thought it would be fun to make her a dress to tie into the theme, and I just happened to have this ages-old Heather Ross fabric in the stash.  Kinda perfect, huh?

 I just used my standard bodice block that I use for all my dresses and added a gathered skirt.

 I love how the very narrow darts give even a little girl dress some shape and classiness.

I made a little cross over for the back bodice.  It's my second time making this kind of back (um, yeah, I guess I never blogged the first one....that I made 2 years ago...oops.) and I'm still working on my proportions a little, obviously.  I got lucky on this one and was able to move the button over an inch and eliminate the sagginess you see here and the bunching in the front.  (The updates aren't photographed because, per usual, this dress was finished within minutes of leaving for the party.  Someday I'll learn.  Just not today.)

I also made it a little easier by inserting some pipe-less piping between the bodice and skirt.  In the front it's just a nice little contrasting trim, but in the back it becomes the casing for the elastic.

I hear that the birthday girl liked it.  That's pretty high praise coming from a 4 yr old.  But that could be because I cheated and covered my bases with some princess barbies too.  Somehow I think the excitement level of a 4 yr old for some prized and hoarded Heather Ross fabric isn't the same as mine.  Weird.