Vacation Week Sewing Treat - Kyoko Dress

This is the week my kids have had for April vacation. Crazy late it seems to me. Everyone else has been on vacation, come home, and is back at school. My "day" job has been really busy (see my earlier post), so I couldn't take the whole week, but I did manage to squeeze in 3 days off. I knew I had only so much time, so on Tuesday night I cut...and yesterday, I dove in.

I've been saving some Meadowsweet from Sandi Henderson that I bought, you guessed it, from Melanie at Above All Fabric. I really love the color palatte, especially the orange and the lime...and for some reason, the plaid just SPEAKS to me. I decided to try it with Patty Young's Kyoko dress. My five year old is dress crazy, and I know how beautifully Patty's patterns are and how well they fit my peanut. The result was nothing short of stunning!



We ran a few errands this morning, and without exception, everywhere we stopped, someone commented on Ally's dress. Maybe she's used to it now...but she sort of smirks and says an exaggerated "Thhhank you!" Truth be told, I love when people ask me where I bought it. And when I say "oh, I made it for her" their mouths always fall open. *LOVE THAT*

One of our stops today was at CVS, where she got some new sunglasses. She didn't really want to pose, so her focus is more on Snow White on the arms of the glasses.





The pattern went together super smoothly. I would say maybe 2 hours of actual sewing and pressing time. I take forever to trace patterns, and cut them out. I also take forever to pin. I am mad-crazy over pinner. Mostly because I keep trying to NOT pin, and I have to "un-sew" because it's crooked.

The only challenge I ran into was in making the obi. I had another print cut, and was informed by my lovely daughter that it wasn't "the one". So I cut a second. Funny, I like her choice better than mine, but in cutting the second set, I rushed. And the two were not 100% equal on both sides (from my too-quick rotary cutting), so I had to go over some of the areas twice, because one side was narrower than the other and the stitches didn't catch the fabric underneath. *NOTE TO READER* this is not a short coming in the pattern in any way. The directions are clear, and actually really easy. I just tend to get ahead of myself.



I love when I start something, and it goes together this easily, and the result is so fantastic. I also traced this pattern, instead of cutting it, so I could use it again in another size. It was the first time I had used a tracing wheel. I love it when those "easy" tools work as well as this one did. I will be much more confident using it now, and will likely get a lot more use out of my patterns.

What do you think of my print mix? I'd love to know what you think works about it, or what you'd do differently.