Catherine by Made for Mermaids

Catherine...not only is it a beautiful name; it is a beautiful shirt, tunic and dress!

I had the fantastic opportunity to test the pattern in two sizes!  Normally I'd say I was crazy, I still may be.  However, it was so fun to see how great it fits at a size 6 and a size 14!  (Please note that the flower on the blue dress IS NOT part of the pattern.  I added the flowers.)

The first option I made was a size 6, length 8, curved yoke (the curve refers to the curve at the neckline), long sleeve dress.  The dress sits right at the knee or slightly above the knee depending on where the girl falls in height range.  We decided to pair Miss. Thang's dress with Bonnie Legs because it's starting to get cold out.

The dress would look great with tights as well, she just wears a lot of leggings so it was easy to match the dress with the leggings.  It would also look fantastic with boots.  And, we're BIG fans of Bonnie Legs in this house!
This version of the dress feels a lot like a play dress to me.  Miss. Thang thinks so too.  She has had a great time playing in it.

I added the flowers to the yoke of her dress (Thank you Pinterest!)  I used this tutorial on how to make the roses. 

                                                      The Second option I made was for a new to me model!  Miss. Emily is a wonderful young lady whom I also teach piano lessons to.  She is a GREAT model!  

For Emily's top I made a short sleeve square yoke, tunic.  Emily is the only girl as she has three younger brothers.  So, I put lace over the top of the yoke to make it even more girly.  Not that the Catherine needs any more "girliness" added in, but the lace added a little bit extra!

The tunic is a great length and looks fantastic with leggings or jeans!  It would also look great with a belt around the middle.

One of my favorite parts of the Catherine is the different yolks and the gathering of the bodice which means it flows so nicely. 

Emily loves that the tunic is long enough that she doesn't have to keep pulling it down to cover everything up!  As a tall girl myself, I completely understand the love of clothing that is long enough to do that job!

 

After seeing all the other dresses with the ruffle on them in the testing group, I HAD to make Miss. Thang a ruffled dress. The options I chose for this dress were the square yoke (turns out I REALLY like the square yoke), long sleeve, and ruffle.  I LOVE how it turned out! 

 Somehow the ruffle adds something to this dress!  Or, it could be that I just really love ruffles.  This version of the dress was a lot more elegant.  Miss. Thang kept posing like this picture.  She felt very beautiful in it!

 

Typically, I make my girls dresses that are longer than the Catherine because I'm always worried they'll grow out of their dresses too fast.  However, if made any longer the Catherine starts looking like a nightgown (that's on my sewing to do list.  One of the hacks is a nightgown and it's adorable!)  It looks fantastic at knee length and the bonus to the Catherine is that if they do grow out of the dress length, it will become tunic length.  I should mention that my girls grow up and not really out.  So for them we won't have the problem of growing out of them size wise for awhile. 

 One last thing I particularly like about the Catherine is how it is finished on the inside.  The yoke is lined giving it a professional look.  (There is an option for an un-line yoke.  I would personally use this if I were making a lace yoke or needed a lighter yoke if I lived in a warmer climate or it was summer.)   I love that in a pattern!  And, I love that this pattern is so versatile!  It can go from everyday top to beautiful dress!

Now on to the nitty gritty:

Happy news!  The server is up and running and you you can find the patterns HERE!!!  And to top it off, the patterns are on sale through Saturday 11/25/17!  (They are also running a 30% of sale on the rest of their patterns to celebrate 40,000 members!)

Made for Mermaid usually sells their patterns through their website.  However, they are switching over to a new server and the server is having issues.  So, they are selling the pattern through Etsy.  The Sale runs through 11/22/2017 and this is the link for the Catherine.

You can also buy the Mama Catherine, or the Dolly Catherine.  

{-OR-}  Oh yes, there's an Or!!

You can buy them bundled until the 22nd!!  All THREE, or the  Mama Catherine and Catherine 

I literally can't wait to make a Catherine for myself of Miss. Opinionated Teen!

As for the Fabric:  The blue dress is Cloud 9 Fabric that I bought from Peek-A-Boo Fabrics
                              The Green Tunic Fabric is from The Purple Seamstress
                              The Chevron Dress Fabric is from:  yoke-The Purple Seamstress (charcoal), chevron- a fabric de-stash Facebook group.

{Please note that some of these links are affiliate links.  If you purchase something I have recommended, sewn etc. through those links I will receive a small percentage of compensation.  It helps me support my sewing "therapy".}