School Photo Dress - Minus the "School" Part???

So studious, LOL

So.  It seemed like the Oliver and S School Photo Dress took me days to finish - which is TRUE - but which feels even LONGER.  It's cute, and I like it more, sewn up and seen in real life, as opposed to on the pattern envelope.  I can't remember what compelled me to finally buy the pattern at the time, but I think I DID get it on sale at Bolt, LOL.

Not the hole in her only pink leggings ;)

I'm THIS close to being 100% happy with the results.  Partly, this is due to MY sewing, and partly, it's due to the directions.  It's funny, because I should have made note when I read the review by Lightning McStitch on the Oliver and S site.  She mentioned the pattern didn't include directions to finish seams, but I forgot that as I sewed up the pattern, though I did half-heartedly read ahead in parts.  I should NOT have finished the shoulder seams but DID on the outer material....and the seams should have been finished BEFORE inserting the zipper - on both the lining and outer.  Argh.  Anyway, my own personal issue with my sewing is that the back looks puckered, and I feel like that didn't show up until the collar was added???  Though it clearly seems to do with the zipper, so, I'm not sure.  I'm sort of bummed about that.

Besides the puckering, there are some wrinkles, LOL

Mostly, the pattern directions were lovely, and the front pocket isn't tricky, though I wanted to make sure it looked nice, so, I tried to be careful - and may STILL have some puckering there, anyway.  And I will admit I was a bit confused on how to have a clean, serged finish on all parts.  Ah, well.  Also - love my bar tacks????  More like bar COLUMNS, aha!  But I am sticking with them.  Maybe they add character?

I'm not a fan at all of the ruffle collar, so, you can see I went with View A.  I also chose to go with View A on the sleeve finish/cuff, though I did not stitch in the ditch, as directed; I just did a normal edge stitch finish.  I did use a plain 'ole pink quilting cotton on the inside - something from my stash, and I barely had enough...whew!

Also, does anyone have any magical cure for sewing linings into zippers by hand - and then having the zipper NOT get caught on the thread....no matter how well it's done?!  I thought I was safe this time, but I was NOT, LOL.

I sewed the size 5 with fabric I purchased specifically for this pattern.  I think I bought the fabric at Mill End last year - though I could be wrong, and maybe it was Bolt.  And holla!!!   Hedgehogs??!!  Love them.

Overall, it's super cute, and it will fit Camden better in the spring.  I am just trying so hard to pump things out quickly when I get a chance to sew.

Next up is a green voile blouse - a Japanese pattern I hope I can figure out by myself!!!! - to match her Sunday Brunch outfit that I sewed LAST YEAR.  It barely still fits.

And....this is what the little guy did while I took pictures :)

Four Skirts in TWO??? Oliver and S Hula Hoop Skirts!

Dudes.  BEST Christmas go-to gift EVER.  Y'all need to give this skirt a whirl - literally and figuratively.  What skirt, you say???  Why, my friends, the Oliver and S Hula Hoop skirt.  I'd purchased this pdf (You CAN'T be serious, Autumn, you don't buy THOSE!  I KNOW, right?!) a while back, because the look of the skirt did interest me, but I hadn't gotten around to it.

Then tragedy struck.  Tragedy of the first-world problems NO SWEDISH TRACING PAPER kind.  I realized, as I grabbed my roll of tracing paper a couple weeks ago, that there was not nearly enough on the roll to make the Oliver and S School Photo Dress I'd been planning to sew (worry not, for the fabric is still sitting at the end of my ironing board).  I refused to buy it on Amazon, as I like to support my peeps up at Modern Domestic - but that meant I would have to wait until nearly the end of October.  Sad times.

So, I did the only thing a girl CAN do.  I turned to my pdf patterns.  I let the girls over at That's What She Crafted and Irons in the Fire what I was about to do, and they couldn't believe their ears (or eyes, as it were), aha!

I'm soooo glad I made the decision to go with this pattern.  It is insanely easy (even if you're like ME and do ridiculous things with the easiest patterns, which then involve seam ripping, clearly), and after one, it's easy to pump out several - which I have :O  Two, however, are for Camden.  As always, I will excuse away the photo quality....but trust that they're cute, and Camden loves them and has been complemented several times while we've been out and about :)

I don't have much to say about the pattern itself.  I think there might have been a step or two that I thought were unnecessary, so, I didn't do them (I was maybe supposed to baste the top edge of the waistband before I folded it, but that seemed like a silly waste of thread).  Other than that, though, the pattern goes together super fast, and if you cut out a few at once, you can whip through these suckers.  Plus, people...HOLLA!!!  It calls for a full yard of fabric for a size 4, and you totally only need 3/4 yard for each side.  Yard schmard, I say!

I love that Camden gets a skirt....but not just ONE skirt - TWO...and not just TWO - FOUR, really!  I did use stash fabric I'd already used once before, which is nice.  The Halloween fabric is from Camden's second Halloween, when I sewed a knot dress, and the bunnies (Cotorienne) are from one of her Oliver and S Sailboat sets.  So, thumbs up to me for using up fabric from my scrap bins

How was she SO young???

I definitely need the next size set - totally worth it!!!..........And stay tuned for the Christmas gift versions of this skirt!

That Whole Two-For-One Special - Starring the Family Reunion Pattern!

Do NOT look closely at the wacko ruffle stitching!!  I twinge looking at it!!  I might have to fix it.

I have to say this straight off - the Family Reunion is an easy cheese cream pie pattern!!!  I like that from Oliver and S, which can be soooo detailed sometimes (which is also great....otherwise, why would Camden's closet be full of their patterns??).  It's funny, now that I have more experience with sewing - and especially with sewing Oliver and S patterns - I'm noticing that there are so many directions I can totally ignore.

Now.

I SAY that, but really, I still take a peek, because I'm that person who misses things alllll the time, so, I like to be extra careful....when I'm actually thinking about it.  And speaking of....with this particular pattern, I certainly DID mess up, as I though the facing pattern pieces were INSIDE the dress, but that was alllll a lie, LOL.  I didn't even know the term "facing" could mean something is on the OUTSIDE. I should go look that up.  The point is that I totally wasted time, thread, fabric and facing by cutting out the facings on shot cotton....because if I'd known it was an outside piece (meaning, if I had even LOOKED at the picture, aha!), I would have used the main fabric, as I wanted these projects to have a pretty clean look.  Suffice to say I decided the shot cotton would work on the dress version - but NOT on the top version, so, I re-cut, etc.

Sometimes, with Oliver and S, I remember to look up errata for a pattern, but I didn't happen to check this time, and everything went together smoothly (minus the facing mis-hap).  Pintucks clearly take some energy, especially because there are NINE just on one garment...and I was doing TWO garments.  So, I assembly-lined that shiz, and all ended well.

I again (I say this alll the time, I know!) used stash fabric.  Well, let's not get hasty - I did that for the top (I just hadn't know for the LONGEST time what to do with the ONE yard!) - but I bought the flower fabric for the dress just last October, actually planning to use it for a coat.  Oops ;)  (And now that I'm thinking on it, wouldn't a VEST for the Art Museum pattern be cute with that???)  I had to purchase new buttons (seriously...I have soooo many great buttons; why does NOTHING ever work for a given project???  I guess y'all should refer to THIS post from last year) today on the cheap - coupons at
Jo-Ann Fabric Store.  Tiberius and Camden helped out, and a nice customer at the store chatted us up while we did picked them out.  (Side note:  I have a beef with Jo-Ann Fabrics.  Why'd you change up the button situation???  I swear they removed a line of buttons and replaced it with an even cheaper-looking line, which is a dreadful thing!)

The only modification I made to the top was to lengthen it by an inch, as I know how that story will end if I do NOT lengthen.  And, as seen in the pictures, I chose to use the button tab for the dress and the ruffle for the blouse.  You may have guessed by now, but I'm not super frilly and into ruffles, so, this was stretching it for me, and I think it works....???  Jazzes it up a teeny bit?

I did my most BANG-UP sewing job EVER on the snaps, too - check it out!  I have a weird thing about sewing on buttons.  I refuse to sew them on by machine, as I think I make a tougher anchor than a machine (I'm weirddddd), and I sort of like doing it, even though I'm straining my eyes and all hunched over (no, seriously, I was pretty sure I threw my back out for a split second while sewing those buttons).  I was super impressed, though, by my snaps.  When you have to use snaps as an anchor point, it can be tricky trying to finagle the sewing of them under a decorative button.  I'm not sure how any of y'all do it, but I want the snaps to be secure....yet not UGLY, right???  Check it out, though!

I am nit-picking over my finish/edge-stitching here, but whatevs, I guess

Size-wise, I did the 5 - at this point, I'm sadly just trying to get things SEWN for Camden, so, fun and fancy isn't in my vocabulary; I didn't want something difficult (I honestly felt bad for NOT using the main print as the facing....and then adding piping with the shot cotton, but I told myself to slow my roll), so, I'm sort of the pumping-things-out mode.  You can see the dress definitely looks big on her, which is obviously no fault of the pattern - but add to it that I used a heavier-weight fabric on the dress, which does that awkward thing where it looks stiff/doesn't quite fit right.  I like to think she'll grow into that.  The shirt fits beautifully, even if the photos on a COLD, WINDY morning don't capture that well.

All in all, a lovely pattern, and I'm glad I sewed two of them - bang for my buck and all ;)  Next up???  Likely the School Photo dress....in HEDGEHOG fabric - holla!