In which spring gets its skates on

Look! We've been playing outside!

And someone's got a new dress...

As for me, I've fallen a little bit in love with the pattern. It's been a while since I felt the urge to sew kids' clothes, but this one's got me back into it with a bang. It's the Roller Skate dress, one of the new Oliver & S patterns, and I ADORES it. I sort of knew I would as soon as I saw it (and the speediest mail order-er ever obliged, as promptly as always).

 

It's just my and L's style, and while I must admit to having struggled a little with the fiddliness of the Ice Cream dress (which by the way is now, already, massively too small and hardly covers her bum), it was immediately obvious that this one is more straightforward. It was a joy to sew, even having opted for the yoke/facing option.

I still managed to mess up slightly (of course), trimming the seam allowance at the neckline point a bit too closely. In its first wash it came loose and frayed a bit, so I edgedstitched the whole neckline and it seems to be keeping things in place OK.

The button, I was astonished to discover, was the only one in a not inconsiderable stash of the right size. Luckily it matched.

The lining peeks out of the sleeves, despite great care to keep everything smooth in the right place.Why? WHY?? *

* I don't actually care.

Anyway, the main thing I wanted to say about this dress is that it made me realise why Oliver & S patterns inspire devotion (yes, apparently they do). The instructions are absolutely impeccable - you are literally hand-held through the entire thing. I can hardly recall the details of making this because I just switched off and let the pattern do the thinking. L chose the fabrics out of my stash so it was a no-effort thing from start to finish.

She's been doing a lot of growing out of her clothes this winter, so there'll likely be a slew of posts soon featuring a new wardrobe for her; happily, this may well coincide with Kids' Clothes Week. Either way, to redress the girl-boy balance in this one, here's T in his current favourite get-up:

I was trying to get him to pose like he was catching those red fish embellishing the floor, but all he was interested in was stretching the fishing rod and pinging it. It frustrates me much and often, but actually I'm rather proud that no-one makes either of my kids do what they've decided not to.