Oliver + S Birthday Party Dress

A few months ago I discovered some money in a PayPal account that I'd forgotten about, and decided to spend my 'free' (ie, husband won't miss it) money on some fabric and patterns.

I bought a heap of fabric but my favourite by far was Verbena in pink, by Kaffe Fassett. I'm not normally a huge Kaffe Fassett fan but I just fell in love with this fabric. I think because the print reminded me of my favourite flowers - hydrangeas - but also because I just love the use of colour.

I also bought a few patterns by Oliver + S, including the especially fabulous Birthday Party dress pattern.

I've wanted to make up the Birthday Party dress in the Verbena fabric for some time now, and with a few special occasions coming up I had the perfect excuse to whip one up for my daughter.

I'm pretty happy with the results. The process itself was hassle-free too. The pattern is so easy to follow - it has lots of pictures that help explain each step and I found it easy to follow, even though I am a novice sewer.

Even though I love the dress, I think the pattern lends itself more to a less 'busy' print, so next time I make it I will use a less fussy fabric. I can picture the next incarnation of this dress in a simple cornflower blue fabric with ribbons instead of the tabs across the pleats... Now I just need to find the fabric.



Detail of the tabs and box pleats

The back: I really love the cloth buttons I found

Mrs Perkins

I bought a couple of Melly & Me patterns last year to make for my daughter and as baby shower gifts. I never got around to using the giraffe pattern (Mrs Perkins) so pulled it out this year when pregnant with my second child.

I didn't know the baby's sex (he turned out to be a little boy!) so chose a fairly neutral fabric - one of Kaffe Fasset's prints in blue with pink, purple and green accents. I found the co-ordinating green fabric in my stash and bought the buttons to match.

The pattern was easy to follow and construct, although making the little horns drove me bonkers. They're so tiny and turning them inside out took me weeks - yes, weeks. I had so many attempts but just could not make it work! Suffice to say I got there in the end and the result is a cute little toy that sits proudly on my son's dresser.