About 5 years ago, Made by Rae released her Geranium dress pattern for girls, and it quickly became the must-sew dress for all mom sewers everywhere.  I think I have made  upwards of 50 Geraniums since it’s release- several for my girls, many for custom orders and friends.  Its my standby.  It can be casual, it can be fancy.  I always keep it close.  It’s actually the only one of my patterns that is kept in a purple folder so that I can find it in quickly.

Rae asked me a few weeks ago to help test her newest baby, the Geranium Expansion Pack (known as Geranium XP).  This pattern supplements the original Geranium pattern (OG) by adding many new options.  First of all, sleeves!  3 different lengths, puffed, fitted, gathered, oh my! There’s a zipper option, extended bodice option, neck bow, sash, hem band, peter pan collar… Just head over to Rae’s site to read all about and see all of the amazing variations she’s made.  Can I say this probably the only dress pattern you need?

I decided to test the short fitted sleeve option and the bow, in the tunic length.  The pattern details are all there, and the directions are what you expect from Rae- perfectly understandable and clear.

The neck bow is cleverly inserted in the sides of the U-cut out from the OG- brillz!

I will say, I was nervous to do the fitted sleeve.  I thought it just might be too fitted for my wiggly child, but really it fits so nicely!  Especially in this lightweight swiss dot.  I used some leftover Rifle paper co. scraps to make my neck bow, and while I’m happy with the end result, I think next time I’d pick a contrast fabric that is the same weight or lighter than the main fabric.  It just felt a little tricky to sew between the swiss dot layers, and hangs just a bit “heavier” than I’d like, but, still so adorable!

Since I’m wimpy, I chose to make the button-up back closure.  Though I’d like to attempt a zipper again (I’ve only sewn a couple).

Okay friends, time to get your XP so you can make one of the possible 2,000 (i know- who knows how to do math like that?) Geranium variations.

Thanks for coming by and special thanks to Rae for continuing to inspire us to sew all the things!

-Erin