Oliver + S Croquet Dress

This was another of the Oliver + S patterns that I wasn't quite sure about when I first saw it.  I had the same reaction with the Apple Picking dress.  I think it must be the drop waist silhouette that my eye isn't used to seeing, as it hasn't really been in fashion since, oh, the mid-eighties (when I had a peach drop waist dress that my mom made for me, which I loved).  Dropped waists appear to be making a comeback, so I guess we can go with that ;)

Anyway, I decided to give it a try anyway, and I'm glad I did.  It really is a cute pattern with some fun details.  I think ultimately, it was the bow that got me :)

 I made the size 12-18 months, and I have to say, the sizing seemed a little big to me.  I had to bring the shoulders and neckline in significantly.  If I were to make it again, I would go down a size.  I haven't had this problem with any of the other Oliver + S patterns.  In fact, I've almost had the opposite problem with some. Miss S is 18 months and is a little on the small side, so she should have fit it about perfectly.  I'll just have to remember this for the future.

I used a black/cream linen for the body (same fabric as I used for these Puppet Show shorts).  It definitely wrinkles, but I kind of like the rumpled look.

For the waist casing and the bow, I used a polka dotted quilting cotton that I bought before Miss S was born to make her a quilt which hasn't yet happened...

I used a covered button for the back closure, and instead of making a thread loop (I'm way too lazy for that), I used a tip I'd seen on a blog.  Unfortunately, I can't remember which blog, but they suggested using a piece of a hair elastic, which worked great.

A fun summer dress I'm glad I tried :)

Polka Dot Bubble Dress

My youngest brother is getting married this weekend, and his fiance has chosen black, white and red as her wedding colors.  I wanted to make Miss S a dress to wear to the wedding.  I was really excited to see the Oliver + S bubble dress being offered as a digital download, since it had gone out of print and was really hard to find.  I also had some cream and black polka dot fabric I had bought at Joann around Christmas, wanting to make Miss S a Christmas dress, but December turned out to be a crazy month with the remodel and moving and holidays, so the dress never happened.

So I was excited to make the Bubble Dress and excited to use the fabric I hadn't been able to use at Christmas.  I modified the pattern to add actual gathered sleeves, instead of the cap sleeves.  I used the armhole and sleeve pattern from the Jumprope dress, then slashed and spread the pieces to create fullness to gather.  I finished off the sleeve with a bias binding strip.  So it's not exactly true to the pattern, but I think it turned out cute. 

I also added a black velvet ribbon to match the velvet dots on the cream taffeta fabric.  My younger sister made the little red flowers clipped onto the ribbon at the waist.

All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out.  I love the little bubble skirt and as always, the directions were great.  I'll post some pictures from the wedding of Miss S wearing the dress.