The case of the 5 month dresses

I offered to make some dresses for my friend Lisa's grand-daughters, so in December we went out to JoAnn's to find some fabric and a pattern she liked.  She picked out Simplicity 8270 which is a simple pull over dress. There are also leggings, but I just made the dress. She liked view D so she picked out contrasting fabric.

I thought, the dresses would take me no time to whip up and I could get them done in one afternoon. That's what I thought...

This fabric was a pain in the butt to work with. It shrank like there was no tomorrow and the purple faded almost 2 shades. Cutting it wasn't so bad except since it shrank so much, I needed more purple fabric. And of course by the time I made it back to JoAnn's they had a different dye lot. I didn't calculate enough fabric and once it shrank I didn't have enough to cut out for the second dress. So I went to JoAnn's again, and bought the 2 yards that was left on the bolt.  This time, even with the shrinking I fo' sure had enough.  AND the color did not fade.

So there are two dresses in two different shades of purple. I had already sewn the larger dress that is too shades lighter and I was not sewing more than I had to.  I will be honest and say I am not used to sewing with knits. This fabric was stretching all over the place, and yes I used the correct needle.

The neckline pattern piece is too small in both sizes I made. I cut it so it would stretch and it didn't. So I added almost 2 inches to the pieces  - yep, had to cut them again.

I had enough of that bloody purple fabric I made some headbands. They were easier to make and hopefully will fit their heads!