Parachute polo dress

We had a little burst of spring weather a few weeks back that had me excited to sew again, and A was keen for a t-shirt dress with a shirt collar...

This is the Oliver + S Parachute Polo lengthened and flared to a dress. A quick and easy modification.

I used the View B "girl's sleeve', and the size 12 tracing that I already had after making P's grade 6 graduation outfit last year.

The fabric is an organic cotton knit from Nerida Hansen. It's a lovely soft cotton lycra. It was a pleasure to sew and has been washed and worn a few times already with no sign of fading or wear and tear.

The collar and pocket (accidentally made smaller than the pattern intends) was a cotton voile from the scraps bucket.

There was a little bit of the Nerida Hansen fabric left over and I wondered if it could be incorporated into the side panel of the Parachute sweatpants - since I had the pattern out already. I reached for a green ponte dress of mine that I've worn on occasion but never really liked (poofy sleeves, silly neckline etc)

There's no way the pieces of the green dress would fit on the pants pattern, but the colour match with the green leaves of the floral fabric was too goof to pass on. So, I thought why not just repurpose the skirt, exactly as it is and gather/attach it to a t-shirt top...

The top part is the some pattern from Ottobre Spring (1) 2014 that I'd made back here. It's a bit tighter in this thicker knit, and maybe cutting the front on the bias affected the fit of the original design? Anyway, it was super quick and used up some leftovers as well as clearing space in my closet. Win!  

Music Box Malory Towers

I hadn't even photographed the painstakingly slow knitting I did for my (then) Harry Potter obsessed daughter before she'd declared that her thing was now Enid Blyton's Malory Towers.

To be honest, I wasn't even listening when she made this declaration, but I was rummaging around for fabrics to make her something and she was talking about wanting a grey tunic dress. Wha???

Well, I had the fabric and I had the pattern and it would be a doddle compared to the as yet unphotographed Potter knitwear (already shoved in a drawer). Plus, I thought it would be a cute dress. Maybe not with all the retro public school girl trimmings as above...

The fabric is a stretch, grey wool woven from The Fabric Store eons ago. I'd bought two versions of the fabric. The grey with mustard checks became this dress that my mum now wears all the time. This smaller cut has tiny pink grid lines instead of mustard. It's lovely fabric and I would have kept it for myself for a shirt but there wouldn't have been enough.

There was just enough for this size 12 Music Box Jumper by Oliver + S. It barely fits and I think it's only the lycra content that has let me get away with it, but she loves it.

I added 3/4" to the bodice length and one extra button at the bottom. It's basically View B but under no circumstances was I allowed to do the central inverted box pleat or the cute littel pockets flaps. I just gathered the front skirt instead of a pleat. Here's a cute view B from way back with box pleat and pockets flaps with bugs!!

With a rather small cape, and a very small boater hat she took part in the last minute scramble that was an online book week dress up. If only we had a vintage looking lacrosse stick