so-cal sewing mom: Perfect Pattern Parcel #2

So this is the last day to purchase from Perfect Pattern Parcel #2.

Here's the scoop on The Caroline Party Dress. Now, this is a dress pattern that I had never seen before. When I received the patterns, I knew it was one that my kid would like. She's definitely a girly-girl in spite of my best efforts to make her less girly-girly.

I had a great border print in the shop from the Grand Hotel line from Jenean Morrison. Check out her art sometime - very cool stuff! I knew the border print would work well for this dress, but I didn't want to use up a ton of fabric, so I cut carefully. I made sure to line up my pattern pieces so that the horizontal patterns would line up.

The pattern has several options, and I opted for the easiest version. There are options for a fully lined dress with a tulle underlay, and although my kid would have loved that, I went with the simpler version as this was my first go with the pattern. There's also an invisible zip in the back, and I wasn't really confident with my ability to insert that in a fully lined dress.

I made the dress up really quickly. The zipper instructions were great, and the pattern went together beautifully. I had left the hem/border very long, and tried it on the child. Big mistake. She then got crazy attached to the dress that was almost down to the ground.

So, here's the dress-drama....

I ran out to the store. When I got back, the kid was in tears. My husband said there had been a problem....apparently, Julia was running around the house in delight wearing the dress. As it was a 90 degree day, she got sweaty. Well, she doesn't like to be sweaty. So, apparently, she actually tried to remove the dress by tearing at the neckline, and she tore a 5" hole in the dress. The poor kid - she realized what she had done, and melted down in tears.

I of course told the kid that I'd fix it - not a problem. So, there's the story of the neckline cutout added to the Caroline Party Dress....not a design feature at all!

I'll be making this pattern again for sure! This is a size 4 on my 4 year old - the fit was perfect!

We even have color coordinated finger nails courtesy of Julia's big sister....