Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Gathers and Circles: A Two-for-One Deal in the Little Lizard King Sorrento Dress



A new favorite pattern!!!  Pretty stinkin' simple, and both Camden and I like it.



The Sorrento Dress by Little Lizard King offers both a circle skirt and gathered skirt option, and I sewed up one of each - though in fabrics opposite to what I intended, aha.  



I had originally purchased the lovely purple bird fabric from Joann Fabrics (you have heard me say it a million times - I just do not generally like the fabric quality they carry, but this quilting cotton felt like a great quilting cotton, and while I wouldn't always recommend quilting cotton for this type of dress, it works well and is a dress for a kid, so, not a big deal to me) and had planned to whip up the circle skirt version.  THEN, while at Modern Domestic one day, I saw the gorgeous black flowered print on a tube and had to have it.  It wasn't expensive, and it was wide fabric, so, I didn't need much.


After both fabrics were washed, dried and ironed, I realized that the bird fabric wasn't wide enough for a circle skirt, and I was then tragically worried I didn't buy enough black fabric to make a circle skirt in lieu of that.... This story ends well, though - yay!  I had enough black fabric, and I just turned that into the circle skirt version - and the birds into the gathered skirt.  (The best part, though, is that Joann Fabrics carries two versions of the birds, and I had actually purchased both and meant to use the other purple shade, LOL!  So, I will use that for next year's version, maybe!)



The dress is crazy easy to put together for such a cute little number.  I will say, though, that I MUCH PREFER circle skirts over gathered skirts, especially when the gathers are made on a quilting cotton.  It just creates too much bulk.  As for the circle version, I did lengthen it to what would be a size 9, and the circle skirt I also lengthened, though apparently not as long, and it's a full 1.25 inches shorter, I think.  I'm a bit bummed about that, as it's obviously short and would be better if it was longer.  Either way, both are crazy cute, and I just love them THIS much.


The only outright change I made was in under-stitching around the top of the bodice, rather than either doing nothing or edge-stitching.  I prefer a clean finish but also wanted that lining to stay in place.  And not a huge deal, but to me, this is important:  when straps are involved, I usually try to remember, after the whole thing is sewn, but is still inside-out, to stitch across the straps again in the seam allowance, for extra strength (as the original basting stitch is sometimes cut off).

On another note, I didn't go by measurements for the pattern.  With other patterns, I usually look at measurements and sew either her size or a size up.  I sewed a size 8 in this case, and it is SO gappy in the bodice.  For the second version, the purple dress, I sewed a size 7, and it looks much nicer.  No big deal, I figure, as she'll easily wear it next summer, too, and we'll just use a camisole under it for now.

Anyway, great dress, and everyone is correct when they say you DO need to make this!  Don't wait!

Some time in the life of....

Fun day at Fort Vancouver!



You know... water slides at gymnastics ;)



They desperately wanted one camp night in the back yard... and were high on it

Such a happy boy, LOL

2 comments:

  1. love love love the dresses you made!!!

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    1. thanks!!! they really make me so happy. clothing probably shouldn't make me so happy, lol!

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