mermaids

The latest issue of Ottobre Design is now available for viewing on their website.  The baby stuff is to die for, but isn’t it usually?  I am a little disappointed there isn’t more for bigger girls since I can wear those sizes.  Nonetheless, Ottobre has put together another spectacular issue.  I can’t wait to get the real thing in my hot little hands. 

This dress is a combination of the Flamboyant dress (02/10 #20) and the Rose t-shirt (02/07 #5) from Ottobre Woman. 

The Flamboyant dress is lovely, but a tad bare for school.  I took the neckline from the Rose t-shirt and made it wider.  That was added to the Flamboyant dress.  I removed the gathers from the neckline, but left lots of width in the skirt.  A dress like this needs a good amount of swishyness in the skirt.  To avoid the muu muu look, a casing for wide elastic was added just under the bust line.  Pockets were added because I love pockets, a.k.a Crackberry pouches.  The fabric is a silky blend from JoAnn Fabrics.  Initially, I thought the print was too big for me, but C convinced me to get it.  He absolutely right.  I love this dress.  It is cool and comfortable, but still pretty enough to wear to school or dinner.  There is a very good chance I will make this dress again. 

Because it is difficult to see the details with the busy print, here is a close up of the neckline:

Here is another Ottobre Woman winner.  This would have been an extremely fast skirt if I had followed the directions.  The pattern calls for a knit, but I wanted to use a woven.  This required adding a zipper to be able to get it on.  Adding a zipper meant adding a waist band instead of the elastic casing.  I used bias tape to give the waist a smooth, comfortable finish. 

Let me back up.  If you go with the Ottobre plan, this is a fantastically easy pattern.  First, there is only one pattern piece to trace.  You cut out ten gores, then just start sewing them together.  With a knit on the serger, this skirt could be finished in minutes.  Zip through those seams on the serger, add elastic on the serger, stitch down on the regular sewing machine, then add a hem.  What could be easier?

Using a woven required slightly more time and a few more steps.  Because I was a little worried about this fabric shredding along the seam lines, I pressed the seams to one side and topstitched.  Then there was the zipper and bias tape for the waistband.  (If I had added another gore, it would have slipped over my hips and I could have done the elastic waist.)

Because I am several inches shorter than standard Ottobre uses, the pattern had to be shortened.  The pattern is drafted to about mid calf.  When you are short, mid calf is a tricky look to pull off.  Simply whacking off the top are bottom would have changed the silhouette of the skirt.  I shortened the pattern in three different places, top, middle and bottom. 

The end result is a fabulously comfortable skirt that looks cute with a tank.  I can also dress it up with a nicer top and/or jacket. 

Oh, the nitty gritty details.  The pattern is design #11 from the 02/09 issue of Ottobre Woman.  The fabric is woven I found in New York a few months ago.  It is not as shiny as it looks in the photo.  If you want to skip adding a zipper, make sure you use a knit with some stretch.  It is a close fit.