I love blue. it’s the color of sky and water – it’s calming and peaceful and makes me happy. so, when my friend Rae gave me a peek of Lotus Pond, her new line for Cloud9 Fabrics, and asked if i would be a part of a tour showing it off, it’s no surprise that i was immediately drawn to the gorgeous blues in her beautiful aquatic themed prints.
i was so inspired by the fabric, in fact, i knew i had to make the extra effort to get photos by a body of water! like, say…the Pacific Ocean perhaps! and i did!
oh the whole lotus pond line is so good – the colors are perfectly saturated and complement each other so nicely within each print and as a group. i especially love the different florals! such interesting/beautiful/playful designs – it was sooooo hard to pick my favorites for the tour. the fabric i chose for this project, lily pond, is mostly green, blue, and aqua, but there’s just a bit of pink and orange and yellow in there too, which keeps the eye dancing around the print and makes me really happy.
the fabric is organic quilting cotton, but it’s lighter and softer than most quilting cottons i’ve felt, which lends itself nicely to clothing. i decided to make a dress for E because i just love her in blue, and actually her longest worn dress is blue too! the bodice is a soft aqua jersey knit from Mill End.
the pattern is the newest by my pal Jess of CINO – the Lulu Dress & Top! she made one for E’s birthday which quickly made its way into regular wardrobe rotation – E and i both love it! my favorite thing about the pattern is that you can mix knits and wovens for a best-of-both-worlds dress. it’s a comfy dress to show off a pretty print, which is exactly what i wanted to do.
i added white piping to the pockets to define them against the skirt a bit, and love how that little detail turned out.
i sewed a 4T with 5T length and the top seems a bit big on her, though i think that’s because i didn’t spritz/shrink the neckline and armholes after sewing the binding – i was hoping to get photos while we were on the Puget Sound over Memorial Day weekend, so i sewed this up during a record-breaking morning nap from the baby on the day we left!
the pattern came together quickly and nicely, and i even followed the “bias binding method” for the neckband and armholes which typically isn’t my favorite since there’s a lot of room for error (i usually prefer to finish knits “cuff style” with my serger), but it worked great in this case!
photos at the beach are the best, aren’t they? if i could take all photos there, i would.
airborne boulder! it’s a rocky beach and throwing rocks into the ocean is a favorite activity.
thanks so much for having me join the EXTRAVAGANZA, Rae! i’m in love with this pretty new line of yours and can’t wait to sew with it some more! you do great work, my friend.
lotus pond has shipped to your local and online quilt shops! here are a few places you can buy it:
P.S. i received both the pattern and fabric for free from Jess and Rae, and my opinions are mine allllllll mine.
skirt as top 
love this!!! I was just telling violet this morning that I need to make her some new dresses for the summer b/c she doesn’t have many that fit…and I was thinking about a knit/woven mix….this pattern might be perfect. Also, of course, I’ve been drooling over all of the lotus pond loveliness out there too!
Yes! It can be knit/knit too…lots of options, and totally comes together quickly. Em has grown out of a bunch of her dresses too, she’s so tall all of a sudden!
ahhhh! beautiful dress, photos, and girl! i love the lulu – perfect choice! i just love that print and how you paired it with the aqua – so soothing. E in blue is a very good thing!!
aw thanks gail!! :*
So pretty!!!
So cute!! 🙂
she sure is cute! great dress… love the print you chose. 🙂 -e
Perfect dress! This is my favorite line right now; the colors are gorgeous!!! I just need to decide what to make with it!
Thank you! The colors are so great in person, they really are. What to make is the hardest part!
Lily Pond Lulu—the cute name alone is enough to want to make this! Love the fabric and the dress. If only I had little girls to sew for. Maybe I can translate it to my doll clothing sewing. The photos by the water are stunning–really bring out the dress, and your daughter, too.
Oh thank you so much!
I love blues too! Love the dress and pictures!
Aw I love it, Kristin. And such lovely photos, too! It’s all so beautiful!
Thanks!! 🙂
So beautiful!! Love the dress and these pictures too. So peaceful . . .
super beautiful!
It’s so pretty and you had a great location to take photos! That print really does make a great skirt. The scale is perfect. Good call on piping!
Love this! How perfect you got to take pictures in the Ocean, too! I love that Lulu pattern…another one that makes me a bit sad to not have a girl to sew for. I really think that Lily pond print is so perfect for clothing. Got to get myself some of that!
Rae does make some pretty pretty fabric! I love the blues, and it is perfect with the Lulu pattern. Cute cute cute!!
lovely dress and your daughter is rocking it!
Perfectly adorable! I love that blue color in the Lotus Pond. This dress is awesome but your photos are breathtaking! Love them.
These photos are really great Kristin. Especially the one of her feet on the log hanging over the water. They are beautiful. Darling dress too!