Biker Chick

Every year I make the girls each a dress for their birthdays; this tradition began with Kate's first birthday. Since Caroline is in love with bikes right now, I thought that it would be fun to incorporate a bike somehow into her birthday dress. I had been keeping a look out for a cute bike print but wasn't seeing anything that seemed right for her. While reading the Etsy Merchandising Notes for June, I saw the mention of the Tour de France--aha! I decided to combine Caroline's dress with a little shop merchandising and make a yellow dress in honor of the Tour leader's yellow jersey. I should have made a trike applique since Caroline loves her little Kettler but decided to go with a girl's bike, complete with banana seat. I used Amy Butler's Love print for the bike applique. After lots of different sketches and putting it together initially with little rick rack handle streamers, I discarded that detail for a simple outline. I'm really pleased with how it came out and was delighted to see how excited Caroline was this morning when she tried it on for pictures. Unfortunately the photos came out pretty dark, but with a better forecast on the horizon for this weekend's weather, my fingers are crossed for a better photoshoot within the next few days.

I'm continuing my sporting theme, and will have a new dress to show in the next couple of days...