oliver + s tea party dress

It’s a little too late in the evening for me to be blogging but I really did want to share this, so I will try to be quick.  {I can hear you laughing.  I am never brief on this blog!} This is the Oliver + S Tea Party Dress pattern in size 2T.  I’ve had the pattern for ages and am so glad I finally made it.  As is always the case with these wonderful patterns, I learned a new skill.  {Flat piping!  It’s awesome!  It’s easy! You’ve gotta try it!}  It was a really simple and quick sew.  The fussy-cutting of the fabric was what took the most time.  {I wanted to maximize the number of animals–which only makes fashion sense when you are sewing for a kiddo.} It is definitely a beginner pattern.

The print is an Echino that was given to me as a thank you gift from my sister-in-law.  She gave me full yards of three different prints and honestly I think it was one of the most dead-on gifts I’ve ever been given.  I’ve made two pillow covers, a pair of Oliver + S Puppet Show Shorts and now this dress –and am left with only scraps.  I think that’s really telling.

One note about the pattern is that my daughter is almost 4 years old, but I chose to make the 2T based on chest measurements. I was nervous to lengthen the pattern pieces because I didn’t want the skirt to flare out too much.  In the end, she wears it more like a tunic with leggings and a long sleeve shirt underneath and it is adorable.  I hope to capture a modeled shot one of these days.

I purposely staged this photo so that I could also share the Hungarian flour cabinet behind the dress.  I bought the cabinet when I lived in Budapest and it now houses all of my fabric.  I’ve finally had a chance to organize it again and am really thrilled with the state of my stash.  In my next post, I plan to show photos of that cabinet with the door thrown wide open.  At the same time, I will talk a little bit more about the terms I’ve laid out for my personal stash pact and summarize a little bit about some of the discussions that have been taking place in the flickr group.

And yep!  I still managed to be wordy.  I did type very quickly though, and I’m not going to go back and make a million tweaks before I post.  Hope you are all having a good weekend!