I cannot believe this post is almost a month late! Madame Choupie will be turning 13 months tomorrow. Oops!
Truth is, I have so much work at the moment, and I want to spend every little spare moment I have with my daughter rather than on the computer. I am sure you will all agree that is best!
At long last, here are pictures of the outfits I sewed (yes! some sewing took place in this house!) for this momentous first birthday. Sewing a dress for my daughter was something I absolutely, viscerally, had to do; and I suspect this is a necessity which I may be feeling every year, for many years to come.
The pictures indoors were taken on her actual birthday; those outdoors were taken two weeks ago by my very talented brother-in-law, as he and my sister visited for a wonderful weekend.
The pictures indoors were taken on her actual birthday; those outdoors were taken two weeks ago by my very talented brother-in-law, as he and my sister visited for a wonderful weekend.
The dress was made from a kit by Clothkits, a British company I only recently discovered and which is AWESOME in my opinion. The fabric is a lovely corduroy and it comes with the pattern lines pre printed on the fabric! Perfect when your sewing time is (very) spare.
The bodice part of the dress is lined with a matching cotton print.
The bodice part of the dress is lined with a matching cotton print.
The back of the dress is printed as well:
Seeing as Clothkits also offered a matching grown-up skirt, I couldn't resist this opportunity to make us matching outfits!
The straps of the dress turned out slightly too long, so I shortened them before our next photo session - which yielded much prettier pictures thanks to the lovely sunshine, and above all the talent of my BIL!

(one of Madame Choupie's favourite games when nursing is to "feed" me her hand in return).

You can see how the floral theme of the dress is carried over in the legwarmers and shoes.

(also showing my sister's lovely baby bump - she's expecting a girl for June!)

So far Madame Choupie's second year has been nothing short of wonderful. She has been doing something new and amazing pretty much every single day. Only yesterday, she clapped her hands for the first time, and surprised us at dinner with two new words. She'll be walking any day now!
Besides all this, though, and most importantly - she is such a JOY to be around. I believe this new year in her life is going to be all sorts of fantastic.












