Well, bridesmaid dress, really, but that’s a “wedding dress”, right? This is the dress I wore in May 2000, as Maid of Honor in my best friend’s wedding:

The photos are terrible, we’ve had so much rain lately I’ve had a hard time taking nicely lit photos. Anyway…the color is a very pretty deep eggplant (not really purple, not really wine-colored, truly eggplant). An empire-style bodice and waist with a very flowy, A-line, georgette fabric skirt. Not something you would ever wear again, but we all remember them as being incredibly comfortable and fun to dance in that evening! And here is the back…plain except for a tiny bow at the zipper with long streamers hanging down.

I’ve thought many times over the past nine-years that I should donate it to one of those “prom-dresses-for-inner-city-kids” programs, or something like that, but I had an idea in the back of my mind, should they ever have a daughter….that kept me from giving it away.

Well, they did have a little girl, I blogged about her and her quilt last July. She came into the world two years ago today. This is her birthday present that I will be giving her at her party on Sunday: (You can click on my photos to enlarge them and see details better!)

This dress is a size 2T, styled much the same way as the grown-up version, including the same bodice fabric, the same lining fabric and the same skirt fabric. Even the same little bow has been transferred to the same spot on her dress.

The sleeves are a little diffrent, made from two overlapping leaf-shaped pieces, fully-lined, with a slight gather at the shoulder. I think she’ll have fun twirling around in this pretty party dress!

But, that’s not all I made. We all know kids don’t get excited about receiving clothing as presents, so I made her a kitty doll, with a dress that matches hers just perfectly:

I started with the Cat Doll pattern in the current issue of Stitch, but I actually ended up using very little of the original pattern. I changed almost everything. I know, so typical of me, huh?!

Including just using straight legs and feet, and adding a sweet pair of black Mary Janes, complete with white button closure…(and don’t you just love her striped stockings?!)

Giving the kitty a swishing, curved tail, ’cause no kitty I’ve ever met had a straight tail…

Changing the face, the shape of the head, and of course, giving her a dress that is separate from her body. She is about 18″ tall, and I need to give her a name I think, before I gift her to Addison. Anyone got any suggestions for a name that would work well with her new mom, Addison’s, name?