FO: Birthday outfit, New Look 6205 and Miss Marple cardi

Our wonderful daughter turns 3 this weekend, and for her birthday, she asked me to make a purple dress.  She asked me this way back in January (when we made a birthday cake together for her dad, and she started getting excited about birthdays), so I'm not sure she'll remember this request, but I wanted the Mom of the Year award, so I followed through.

I used New Look 6205 again (first version here) in a Joel Dewberry print.  This time, I opted for the little strapped sleeves instead of the cap sleeves.

Again, the bodice is lined, but in a sort of weird way that still requires you to finish the neckline with bias tape.

I made a size 3, and the neckline is a bit big on our 3 year old, but at least it gives her room to grow. 

For the sweater, I used a pattern called Miss Marple.

Isn't that the best name for a little girl's cardigan?  Miss Marple was an Agatha Christie character, right?  I used two skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca that I had in my stash.  They were intended for a hat/cowl set, but I didn't like those patterns in this yarn.  So much the better, because it works perfectly for this pattern. Although I'm not sure anyone needs an alpaca/wool sweater in late April. 

The knitting only took a week or so, but it took me forever to finish the cardigan (see my previous confession regarding button anxiety).  I really wanted to practice finishing the cardigan with grosgrain ribbon on the button band.  This was good practice, and came out marginally successful.  In the first place, the grosgrain ribbon is the wrong color, but this shade purple was impossible to match.

The main problem is that my knitted buttonholes were horizontal.  I really wanted them to be vertical, so I machine stitched vertical buttonholes on the ribbon.  I'm not sure why I got such a bee in my bonnet about making the buttonholes vertical, but it seemed very important at the time.  The button holes are a little tight, and actually, the bottom one won't go through at all.  I may have to fix that. 

I found these great buttons on beadfreaky on etsy.  Again, not exactly the right purple, but I think they still work. Raverly page here.

So Happy Birthday, dear daughter!  We love you.  Enjoy your purple dress and your special day!