Oliver + S Carousel Dress (#3)

I've been spending a fair bit of time lately working on a particularly special dress for A - a fully lined Liberty Lawn dress with an invisible zipper, full skirt (twirly ++), etc. etc. I used the indispensable Building Block Dress book. More on that to come...

But after that was nearly finished, I needed a quick and easy, tried and tested pattern that would come together quickly, and for which I already had fabric (in my resolution to do as others are doing and use my stash rather than buy new...). The obvious solution to my problem - the Oliver + S Carousel Dress. I made it for my niece L (blogged here) and for A (blogged here) last summer, so I knew the pattern, and more importantly, that A would like it!

The only change I made was to turn the bias tape all the way inside the neck so it didn't show on the outside (and I used ready-made white bias). This is a size 4, which fits everywhere except the length - the minute she put it on, I realised that I should have lengthened it! Oh well...

The pink fabric is an Art Gallery cotton, and the white eyelet cotton is from Chinatown. It had a scalloped border along the selvages which I'd cut off for another dress, but had plenty of the main fabric leftover. 

Maybe to prolong the life of this dress I can add another layer of gathered eyelet to the skirt. But it seems fine for now - it's already been worn to school twice and to a birthday party this afternoon!