A Hanukkah Show Playdate....

My daughter goes to a Jewish pre-school.  We're actually no religion, but certainly celebrate Christmas....so, she needed something to wear for the annual Hanukkah show - which will feature Julia's rendition of "Latkes and Applesauce" along with her classmates...sneak preview here:

Click here to watch the video:  Julia sings...

I wanted to make her a dress using the Playdate Dress pattern from Oliver + S.  I made her one previously, and she hated it.  So, not to be deterred, I tried it again:

 

It's made from very dark navy blue stretch velvet left over from my gymnastic leotard making days....the yoke is linen, with a lace insert.  I considered doing embroidery on the yoke, but I'm glad I didn't.  I don't even have buttons for it, and I may just leave it like this.

It's a size 3 with about 3 inches added to the bottom.  A perfect fit.

Talk about hard to photograph.....

Anyways, here's a couple of modeled shots....I asked her if she'd like to wear it for her show on Friday, and she said yes.....so, we'll see!

I Hate This Dress!

No, I don't hate it.  My kid, however, does.  With a passion.

This is the absolutely darling Play Date pattern by Oliver + S.  Pretty much everything I sew is Oliver + S, so it's not really unexpected.

One of the smart sewists on the Oliver + S forum came up with the "Make It While It Fits" challenge to use all the un-used patterns in our stashes before the release of the new season's.  A great idea it was, so I jumped on the bandwagon.  I still have several patterns that I haven't used, and the Play Date pattern only goes to a 3T, so this was the first one I attempted.

I chose some Eleanor Grosch fabric from Free Spirit (conveniently located in my shop! - www.the-fabric-stash.com).  I have some really cute turquoise shoes in my eBay wish list in preparation for this outfit.  I used Kaffe Fasset shot cotton for the piping and the hem facing.  I reviewed every single photo of the play date dress in the flickr group before doing this pattern.

I got the idea to do embroidery on the yoke instead of buttons or ruffles.  I tried a couple of patterns that didn't work for me.  Sometimes it's harder than it looks to choose the right embroidery pattern to match the fabric.

The pattern is of course extremely well thought out and well written.  There was one spot finishing up the back seam of the yoke where I had to really ponder how it was going to go together, but once I actually read the instructions rather than just look at the pictures, it ended up perfect.

I had tried the dress on Julia a couple of times while I was putting it together.  I wanted to make sure it fit over her head, and wanted to check the fit.  For some reason, that made her hate the dress.  I think she could use a size 4 in this pattern as well, so maybe it fit tighter than her usual dress.  I really can't figure out a two year old psyche.

I made this over Saturday and Sunday, maybe about 4 hours total.  It went together very well, and when it was completed, I made the suggestion to my child that she put on the dress, and we go across the street to the beach and take some photos.  ABSOLUTE MELT DOWN.  Screaming.  Yikes.  It is amazing how passionately she feels about things.

Once she calmed down and became a human being again, she agreed to wear the dress, briefly, in her sister's bedroom only.  I did get some fairly good modeled photos after all:

What a silly kid.....I'm hoping that if I put this hanging in her closet for a while, she'll change her mind....otherwise, I'll be looking for a size 3 kid with the first initial "J" to hand this down to!