anyone know good places to buy dress patterns for girls?

[peanut4us]

I want to start making DD some dresses, and I don't really care for the generic McCalls and Simplicity patterns you see at Joann's and Hancocks. Any ideas? Also what about good places to buy fabric.

When i was April Cornell I noticed that most of her dress patterns are very basic. It's the ricrac and fabrics that make them so special. Anyone know good online places?

[heidi_timms]

I've heard the brand Kwik sew are good. I post on another message board similar to this called amitymama.com sometimes. They have a "sewin mamas" forum where the ladies are really good sewers. I'm trying to ramp up and sew some things. They post pictures of all of their projects. That would be a good place to ask sewing questions.

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey Ashlin
4/27/03

[egoldber]

I like some McCalls petterns and Vogue patterns. I usually avoid the ones labeled "sew in an hour" or "easy" or "learn to sew". And absolutely, it is the fabric choice and choice of embellishments that "makes" a garment.

If you want to explore other patterns than the ones in your local JoAnns/Hancock, try looking at some of these:

http://www.childrenscornerfabric.com/
http://www.carolharrisco.com/
http://www.peanutbutter-n-jellykids.com/
http://www.elegantstitches.com/

Just FYI, many of these patterns are NOT for beginning sewers and assume you know how to do most garment construction techniques without a lot of explanation.

HTH,

[peanut4us]

Excellent, these are perfect. Thanks so much. Off i go!

[C99]

Whatever you do, don't get sucked in by the Burda patterns. I got one of those when I had just started sewing, intending to make a dress for my friend's baby. What a nightmare! Maybe it's b/c the directions are translated from German, but they skipped steps and assumed that I knew what to do. Cute clothes, but after re-cutting 3x, I just gave up!

[AngelaS]

I totally agree that it's the fabric and embellishments that make an outfit. :) I do a lot of sewing and my favorite patterns are Simplicity---their instructions are the clearest to follow. Now that I'm a better sewer, I often just whip up what I want on my own. :)