O + S Family Reunion Dress

My youngest is turning four next month *sniff* *sniff*.  She is a spunky little thing with a wicked sense of humour.  And strong opinions about what she will and will not wear.  I love this dress and I really hope that she does, too.  I just can’t tell her that – I have to play it cool and pretend like I don’t care if she ever even tries it on.  

The flickr group has some great versions of this dress in prints but when I saw this adorable one, I knew I wanted to do a jean dress. 

The main fabric is a lightweight stretch denim I got on clearance last summer at Dress Sew in Vancouver.  The hem facing is It’s a Hoot Marshmellow and Cherry Eggs by Moda.

After reading the reviews about how this dress fits, I cut a size 3 with about 4 extra inches of length.  My girl usually wear size 4 in RTW but her chest measurement puts her as size 2T on the O+S size chart, and I didn’t want the neckline to be too big. 

My one complaint about O+S patterns is that they do not provide a lengthen/shorten line.  I always have to lengthen their patterns and never know where to do it.  This time I added it to the bottom.  Hopefully it doesn’t give it too much volume.

 

I like the red topstitching on the dark fabric but man do you ever see all the wobbles!   I also wish I had taken the “hint” to pull the threads through and tie them on the back when doing the pintucks.  That’ll teach me not to barrel ahead without reading the whole section!

edited to add:  here's picture of my six year old modelling the dress (it's a birthday present so I can't try it on my littlest).  It's a bit tight across the chest but she wants her own now.  I don't have the bigger size pattern but I think a size four with more length would work.

Tova muslin

I really enjoyed making this top and when I wore it for the first time, my three year old told me she liked it.  Unprompted.  Then my other daughter and my husband chimed in to say they did, too.  That's gotta mean something right?

When I received the pattern last week, I didn't have any suitable fabric on hand so went to my local fabric shop, generally a disappointing experience.  They always have either wildly overpriced decent quality fabric or dodgy cheap stuff.  I found this linen/rayon blend on clearance for $3.50/metre so decided to make a "muslin".  Although the oatmeal colour doesn't do anything for me and the fabric is a bit scratchy, I think I probably will end up wearing this. 

The pattern was great and everything fit together amazingly well with the exception of the collar, which ended up being a smidge too small.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't the pattern piece, though -- I think my neck edge stretched out while I was working on the rest so next time I will staystitch the neck edges before I start.

The only thing I did differently from the directions was pre-crease the cuff bands and collar bands before sewing them on -- I did the first one as written and I found it really difficult to accurately fold over the 1/4" that would cover the seams after the cuff was sewn on. 

Other than taking a little more time with the corners on the inset :), the only thing I will do differently next time is give myself a little more than the 3/8" seam allowance to do french seams.  I don't have a serger so did a hodge podge of things this time round -- mock french seams on the sides, zig zag on the armholes and nothing on the inset.

This is an XL, I generally wear size 12 in RTW.  I was a little concerned that I'm not "willowy" enough to pull this off without it looking like I'm wearing a maternity top but I think the cut is great and the fit is fairly good (although still maybe a touch tight across the chest?).   I will definitely be making this again, maybe in real linen.

O + S School Photo Dress

I've had this pattern for ages -- I think ordered it the moment I saw this version on No Big Dill -- but just got around to making it.

The fabric is Kaufman Cool Cords ordered from fabric.com and although we all (hubby, daughter, me) love it, I'm not sure it was the right choice for this dress -- the multiple seams mean the butterflies get all chopped up, especially on the back.  

The collar and cuffs are in plain blue cord and it is lined in lightweight blue shirting.

Other than increasing the length for my tall skinny girl, I made two changes to the pattern -- the piping at the yoke and, at my daughter's request, little vents in the bottom to make it less fitted.

Sadly, I don't anticipate this being worn.  My daughter has been admiring it but it's been in the works for over a month and she has never once asked when I'm going to finish it.  Although she loves the pocket, she still prefers styles that are less restrictive and has told me that she's not fond of the collar (the cutest part IMO!).  There are a couple of things I need to fix (I just noticed a little pleat on one of the sleeves) but then I'll hang it in the closet and hope for the best!

quite a day!

my shipment of Liberty fabric arrived today and then I opened my email to find that the Tova pattern was available.  I love the style of this pattern and have seen such great reviews so, despite the cost ($30US for the pattern + $13US for shipping!), I bought it.  Eeeek, good thing my husband never comments on how much I spend on this obsession hobby!

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