Knitterly opinions needed.

(Crossposted from my LiveJournal.)

I am designing a dress for Thing One. She really liked the sundresses I made for Little Cat Z this summer, and kept saying things like, “I wish I had a dress like that.” Subtlety isn’t her strong suit.

The dress will have a knitted bodice and a woven fabric skirt. My original plan was to have the bodice close in the back with buttons. Now I’m thinking that might not be the best way to go. I’m thinking a zipper on the side would be better. I’m not very trusting when it comes to knitted buttonholes actually holding the buttons. This isn’t so bad when it’s on a four-year-old who’s home most of the time, but if sixth grader is wearing a dress that won’t stay shut . . . that’s a problem. Also, if it’s on the side, it would be easier for her to get on and off by herself. I think buttons on the side would be worse than on the back, because she’d be brushing against them all the time, making it more likely they’d come undone, and also it could be pretty annoying to feel the lumps from the buttons there.

Of course, I’m kind of thinking this might not be a bad pattern to try to sell, too, if it works. So while I would have little problem putting in a double-lapped zipper on the skirt and bodice (I’ve been sewing about as long as I’ve been knitting), I don’t know how other knitters would feel about that. And I’d have to be really good at explaining it in my directions, too.

To top it all off, I’m at least a third of the way done knitting the bodice, with the back buttons in mind, and I’d have to rip out most of it to do it with the zipper in the side.

So, what’d y’all think?

A list.

The forementioned pile of projects on my plate:

The Purse
Hallowig for bibliogrrl, who is shaving her head for Gilda’s Closet in Chicago.
Shirt for Thing Two (almost finished, just needs buttonholes and buttons)
“Chain mail” tunic for Thing One’s Hallowe’en costume
Swordfish fin for Thing Two’s Hallowe’en costume
Trick-or-treat bag for Little Cat Z (thinking about doing a tutorial on how to make one, too)
Dress for Thing One (designing it for her)
Dress for Little Cat Z (based on dress for Thing One, but with different yarn and a much smaller size, seeing how well the pattern can be altered)
Cropped cardigan for me (heavily modifying Ravelry pattern Sweet Little Nothing)
Ripping out first Sweet Little Nothing and finding something else I can make with that yarn (maybe The Amanda Hat)
A skirt for Grace
A skirt for me
A skirt pattern I came up with the other day that may or may not work (although I don’t even have fabric for this, so it probably shouldn’t be listed here)
Finish the super secret felting project (needs I-cord still) and figure out what the heck I’m doing with it

I think that’s far more projects than I really need to have going all at once. Hopefully by the end of this weekend, I’ll have the first three done (although if the first Hallowig works well, I might make more, but we’ll see).