Toni from Make It Perfect recently released some new dress patterns, the Joey and Skippy dresses, and she generously asked if I would like to join her Skippy & Joey blog hop. I chose to make the Joey for my own little Joey.

I love this dress and my little A does too! It’s a good staple for cooler weather and the puff sleeves and front pouch pocket are lovely details.

The dress came together pretty quickly although I did have an issue with the pocket. The pocket openings are too small for A’s hands and I can’t figure out why. I may have missed a piece when I printed the pattern? The other Joey dresses I’ve seen don’t have this issue so I’m thinking I probably made a mistake when printing. Not to worry though, the smaller size pocket openings make storing little rocks, acorns, and other treasures all the more fun.

The fabric is a quilted knit fabric from my store. The quilting gives it a bit of warmth and body and was a good choice for the Joey pattern. I have it in six colours and, as is my custom, I spent a ridiculous amount of time choosing which colour to use but of course, mustard won.

The pattern comes in sizes 0-5 and 6-10, has three sleeve-length options, and the option to make a cowl neck version. There are so many patterns out there that call for woven fabrics and they are lovely of course but for those of us who have kids who prefer to wear knits I’m always happy to see a pattern for functional and modern knit clothing. If you’re scared of sewing with knits, and I know many of you are, please don’t be. Really. Knits are your friend. And if you don’t have a serger don’t let that hold you back. I haven’t used a serger since an ill-fated t-shirt sewing incident in my first year of high-school that left me declaring, for way too many years after, “I can’t sew!”. That was silly. We can all sew. And you can sew knits, on a regular machine, with great results. Yes, you can.

Let’s dance!

If you think you would also like to make a Joey or Skippy or any of Toni’s wonderful patterns now is a good time. She is having a huge sale today and all PDF patterns are 50% off!

Thank you very much Toni for the pattern and for inviting me to be part of the tour!