Pattern Testing!!! Mouse House Creations!

Whew!  I had a long weekend up north, in Vancouver and Portland, visiting my old haunts, like Cafe Hibiscus, Bolt and Modern Domestic.  I'm saving Cool Cottons for two weekends from now, when I head back for the awesome Bolt sale :)  My husband and I had some nice time alone for a bit, too, which was great - while Camden played pool at her grandma's and grandpa's house....

Today, I'm excited to present not one, but TWO test projects for Mouse House Creations.  This is Hayley Crouse's first venture into pattern selling, and I'm excited to be a part of it.  She's been around for quite some time at Welcome to the Mouse House, her fun blog.  Over the years, she has blogged about her family, she has decorated and re-decorated (LOL) her house, and she has also tested for several other pattern designers, so, there are many neat projects to check out.  Also, she has written tutorials for other patterns of her own, and she's designed fun play areas for her children (envious much over here!).

The pattern I tested was the Norah dress, yet to be released, though keep yourself posted on her Facebook page, as it won't be too long before it's out.  The pattern is a quick, fun design.  You can go tunic, dress, collar, no collar, short sleeves, long sleeves, ties, no ties - things of that nature.  For both of mine, I did go long sleeves, ties and collars.  One is for Camden, and one is a fun surprise for her friend!

The first version is a lovely print I picked up 1.5-2 years ago, I swear.  I wasn't holding on to it, all "my precious"-like....I just had no idea what to do with it for the longest time.  And here we have it!  For the collar and tie, I wasn't thinking and did NOT interface, which I'm sad about, but I suppose life moves on.  Also, with this dress, which is Camden's, I did a zipper back, which drove me nuts due to my own silly errors...imagine lots of seam-ripping - though the final effect is lovely :)  Camden isn't a tall child, nor is she tiny.  She is 38.25 inches tall with a round belly.  I usually make things in a size 4 for at this point, though she's more of a 3 in the legs and a 4 in the waist/shirts.  She had tried on a size 5 version of the dress, and for some reason, when tracing and cutting, I went with a size 5, though I'd meant to do the 4.  No worries.  I think the 5 fits her lovely.  I did not lengthen the dress itself, though I had lengthened the sleeves a bit.  The pattern goes together nicely and quickly.

For this next version, which is a gift, I did a size 4, lengthened the sleeves a smidge and DID remember to use interfacing in the collar and tie, aha!  The results are, of course, much better!  Also, as the zipper was not an option included in the pattern, I wanted to make sure to do the button closure, which is also super cute!

Hayley was great to work with, and she busted her butt, helping us out with questions and looking over the pattern multiple times.  It was nice to see how closely she was working with her digitizer, too.  I super appreciate nicely-done pattern sheets in a pdf, and these are laid out beautifully!