Denise Cole, Shiloh Ohio 1st place winner

This entry is made using Sunrise Designs #246 and Sunrise Designs #360. These two coordinating patterns are for infants and toddlers. I made these two different outfits for Adelaide who is 4 years old and for 7 ½ month Emmalyne. Adelaide thinks it is great to wear mathicng clothes. She was thrilled with these outfits which made them even more fun to make. The main fabric is a pretty blue with brown flowers. The collar is brown with small tiny dots. I will be making my son Johnathan a matching top from the brown. I got this fabric from a Mennonite owned fabric store about 1 mile down the road from where I live. Everyone around here knows it as "Rachel's Place", but it's real name is "Country Fabrics". Rachel always has a huge tent sale each fall. While here prices are great on a normal basis, the sale makes it that much better. You definitely shouldn't go if you have a serious fabric addiction! If you are ever in Shiloh, Ohio you have to stop by Rachel's!

I figure since these are more dressy, the girls will mostly wear them to church or maybe a birthday party, although Adelaide wants to wear them all the time around here. She even asked to sleep in it! I guess that means they are pretty comfy to wear too! I found both of these patterns easy to understand and they allow for lots of creative freedom. The need to see the pattern on the web page to get a good idea of just how much variety these simple patterns offer. One thing I have never seen before was with the SD#360 Babes pattern. They had you put a zipper in the leg seam for the diaper access rather than snaps or snap tape.

Here is also a picture of Denise wearing in her beautiful nightgown she fashioned from Nursing Classics #105. She says she had lots of fun making the nightgown for her and her baby. She used matching fabric to make a gown for Adelaide as well!

Larissa Murphy, Landenberg, PA 2nd Place

I made this dress for my daughter Lara's first Christmas from Sunrise Designs pattern "Heaven Sent." When I as young, I used to make doll clothes and dreamt of making clothes for my own little girl someday. Well... I finally have my little girl and I wanted to sew something special for her first Christmas. Many of the dresses I saw in stores and catalogs were expensive and not as well made as I knew I could do. I wanted to make something simple but elegant in a fabric that was soft and would be forgiving of the inevitable burps and spills. I splurged on a hollyberry red velveteen (machine washable) at JoAnn fabrics. I bought the trimmings, a dainty white trim and a bit of eyelet for the pantaloons on sale at JoAnn's as well. The materials for this outfit cost approximately $20.00. I'm hoping to use the same pantaloons to go with Lara's Easter dress as long as she doesn't grow too fast! The nice thing about Sunrise Designs is that you can create your own dress using different parts of different dresses. I used the dress body and Peter Pan collar from view 5, the sleeves from view 3, but instead of using a contrast band, I used trim: and the ruffle from view 7. For the pantaloons I used view 3. On Christmas day, Lara got lots of compliments on her pretty outfit, which of course made Mom very proud. And I had a great time getting to make my very own doll her first Christmas dress!

Deirdre Van Amberg, Erlangen, Germany 3rd Place

Winters here is Germany are cold and we walk almost everywhere we go. My daughter, Jane, needed a warm dress to wear to church and kindergarten. I modified the dress in the Sunrise Designs Four Square #293 pattern.I found this cheetah print flannel for the skirt. (Jane likes animal prints). I matched it up with some high quality black polar fleece for the bodice. I eliminated the ribbing at the waist and narrowed the width of the sleeves from just above the elbow to the cuff. Instead of using standard ribbing fabric, I took advantage of the stretch in the polar fleece and made the ribbing strips out of slightly shorter pieces of polar fleece. I machine -appliqued a paw print of the flannel onto the front bodice. It was my first attempt at applique. I used clear elastic to gather the skirt. I had never tried this technique before, but it made gathering so much easier that I will be sure to use it whenever possible in the future. Jane is thrilled with her cheetah dress and think it is very cute.. The patterns was informative and easy to use. I plan it use in again to make more dresses for her.