Summer Batik Love

About this time of year, my little seasonal obsession with batiks and hand dyes starts. Maybe it's the fact that I grew up in an artsy, beach town where local boutiques and galleries regularly featured batik print, handmade garments, or maybe it's just the bright summer color, and the carefree, "no rhyme or reason" feel to the fabric that I love...kinda fits my personality. Whatever the reason, I love batiks and just snagged these two at a recent local sale. I thought the smoky charcoal would be accented beautifully by the bright, candy pink print. Stella, of course loved them, so they went to her.

Originally they were going to be an Oliver+s Tea Party Dress, but in the end, the fabric had more of a billowy skirt appeal to me. It's pretty basic, and free style. Just a simple skirt, with a contrasting band of fabric at the bottom and elastic casing in the contrasting pink which I left open in tiny spot to feed a big pink grosgrain ribbon through. It DOES have elastic too, because my daughter is a 5 year old that barely fits in 2 and 3t, so at this point the ribbon is merely decorative. When (if) she grows, we can just snip out the elastic and tie off the ribbon to suit.

Now maybe a matching billowy skirt for mama out of some lovely batik...