Long Live Having Fun

My daughter went through a Disney's Descendants' phase last fall, asking to be Mal for Halloween and wanting a Descendants themed birthday party. Good Descendants knits are, as it turns out, REALLY hard to find; I searched fruitlessly through most of October. But in a stroke of what can only be considered AMAZING luck, I scored the second-to-last yard of this beauty on a site I had *just* joined earlier that day (and for other reasons) In November. Serendipity, I'm sure.

When it came, I had to hide it from my daughter so I could finish my Christmas(ish) projects. I'd initially thought that this dress would be another Isla like the Science Dress, and I sketched out some of the options to see if I could give my daughter some input into the design process. On a lark, I also sketched out some dresses that incorporated design elements from two OTHER patterns I'd recently downloaded but never tried as well.

My daughter skipped over all the Isla options, and instantly decided she wanted "the dress with the hood." She pointed me to the straighter silhouette, so CKC's Haven Hoodie it was.

I agonized muchly over which green to choose for the inside of the dress' hood. My daughter initially said pink, but we talked her into green once we pointed out none of the Villain Kids wear pink regularly. Purple Seamstress Gave me two options:  Should I go with the Kelly Green like Mal's outfit? Or the lime green like the logo (and Mal's magic)?

I stared at my color card for hours, ordered both, and *still* couldn't decide. Fortunately, once it occurred to me to ask my daughter, she settled it authoritatively in favor of lime green .

Seeing the green up against the flames of Mal's magic, I do have to admit she was right.

This was my first Create Kids' Couture (CKC) pattern, and I am definitely hooked on the ease of printing and thoroughness of directions. That said, I did make some significant modifications to the pattern to achieve this look: I removed the cuffs at the wrists and added length to the sleeves to compensate, and I removed the cuff at the bottom, opting instead for a contrast band that continued the line of the skirt. I feel this generated a similar look, but with a slightly more fashion-forward (and year-round!) silhouette. Which is great, because my daughter approves!

This dress is called upon at least once a week, sometimes more if we do a load of mid-week purple laundry. Little A is thrilled that she can put both her hands into one big pocket, and she's already said she wants her next dress to have a hood too. This dress isn't quite as *fast* as the Isla or the TDD Peasant, but I somehow suspect I will make it many times over just the same.