For my ten year old daughter, who doesn’t like fussy dresses but complimented me many times on these three. The blue and the deep-red stripe were both from Gray’s General Store. The red organic jersey was bought on sale some time ago. I sew most my knits with a slight zig-zag and a stretch needle. I have a serger, but I prefer to work on a sewing machine. These dresses sewed up rather quickly, given I use my mat and rotary cutter and am an old hand at sewing with knits. All three dresses were based on a pattern by Chicken Hill, graded up for Phoenix’s tall, lanky frame. At first I thought I’d offer these to...

Yes indeedy, this is a lovely fabric – an organic cotton/hemp blend. The garment is also made from a very versatile pattern I’ve used often (and yes, those two kids featured on the front of the pattern envelope emerged from my body some years back). I can make a version of this up from a size 12 months to 7 years; check the pattern for other sleeve, length, and style options. You can see more detail shots and read about how I made this in the Flickr tagset. Materials & materials cost (not including overhead of sewing machine and equipment maintenance, renting and heating sewing room): 1 to 2 yards of organic cotton/hemp in...