It happened again! I knew it would. Except this time it wasn't me barely containing my excitement and giving her a birthday gift too early....but rather my sloppy attempt at hiding said gift in my studio. "What's that?" she asked, pointing to a pile of fabric with some ribbon peeking out. "Just fabric! Let's go..." I attempted. "Mom, wait! That ribbon!" and then proceeded to tug on the purple ribbon from underneath the pile, revealing a bonnet. A bonnet she knew could only be for her. And she was just so excited about it, that it only made sense to complete the outfit by also revealing the matching dress, don't you think? She was thrilled. And perfectly timed it all was, as we were literally heading out the door to Calvin's school May Faire celebration - on a warm spring day. Just right for a butterfly dress and bonnet!
The bonnet pattern is from my friend Amy Karol's crafty club, Mail Order (does anyone remember that? So fun! So long ago!), but the pattern is available separately in her Etsy shop as well. It's such a handy pattern - I've made so many of them over the years, for all sizes. And the dress, of course, is another Suzanne by Citronille, because, well, I just can't stop making them. I have tweaked the pattern as the years have gone by to always include elastic casing on the shoulders which helps keep the whole thing from sliding around too much on them. Both of those are made with fabric from Anna Maria Horner's Fibs and Fables collection. The cross stitch butterfly pattern came from the book Sweet Stitches From the Heart.
Only a few more days until her actual birthday now. Let's see if I can keep some things as a surprise for her.
