Some Holiday Cheer in a Sweater Dress

Well I suppose my title isn’t quite appropriate… my daughter has the flu, so she’s not feeling particularly cheery in these photos, but this fabric definitely fits the holiday cheer vibe!

About the Fabric

Designed and printed in the USA, this gorgeous Winter Forest print is part of a holiday collection currently on preorder from Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics (preorder closes November 5 at 9am EST so it has a super short turnaround!). I love this print so much, and it easily lends itself to children’s wear (both boys and girls) and adults.

The custom fabric featured in this is all printed on cotton Lycra, is 58″ wide, has 50%  4-way stretch, and weighs 11-12 oz. The solid “sea foam” is slightly lighter weight at 9-10 oz.

Given that it was a wintery print, and that my daughter refused to wear anything unless it was made from white minky sherpa (because it’s SO FLUFFY mommy!), I did go ahead and fully line this sweater dress in minky! It’s super cuddly and warm! I hope she gets lots of wear from this one this year, though I’m worried it will make her too hot whenever she’s indoors (my initial plan was for it to be a standalone dress, but maybe it will just be a long sweater instead).

About the Pattern

I used the Vanja by Meine Herzenswelt to make this sweater dress. This was my second time using this pattern (my first Vanja is here) but my first time using the kangaroo style pocket option. Miss 7 does LOVE being able to hold her hands inside her dress!

The Vanja is one of my favorite German patterns so far. The instructions are very clear and everything comes together perfectly. It’s available in various size ranges – I used the Kid’s Vanja (size 74 – 128) and teen and adult versions are available separately.

Since I knew I’d be lining the whole thing in Sherpa, I sized up to 116 for the width and used her height of 128. I was mashing the sizes together and should have cut the pattern and added some length to the middle of the pattern, but I forgot to do this…. so it’s probably about 1-2 inches too short.

Another thing I’d suggest with this pattern is to cut the hem band according to your measurements rather than using the included pattern piece. Since mine is in the dress version, the hem band could do with being a bit wider since she’s supposed to walk in it.

I think my favorite thing on this sweater dress is the heart shaped grommet things (memory blank… I don’t remember the actual name of them!). I drew the design onto some woven interfacing, ironed it to some cotton lycra, then cut it out.

Fabric & Pattern Links

Winter Forest – Cotton Lycra – Preorder (closes Nov 5) – Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics

Sea Foam – Cotton Lycra – Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics

Salmon (?) watercolor stripe – Cotton Lycra – Wolf & Rabbit Custom Fabrics

White minky sherpa – Fabric Mart

Lace – Hobby Lobby

Grommets – KAM

Deine Vanja – Kids – Meine Herzenswelt

Disclosure: I received a complimentary fat half of Winter Forest, Sea Foam, and a quarter yard of stripes from Wolf & Rabbit Fabrics for purposes of promotion.