Birthday Party Dress from Oliver + S

A while back, I went on a fabric buying expedition with my friend V to get fabric for her daughter, M. The last piece of fabric from that collection to be sewn was a lovely rosy-pink polka dot cotton. We bought it without a specific pattern in mind, but then decided the Birthday Party Dress from Oliver + S was perfect.

This is definitely the most involved dress of the four that I've made for M, but worth every minute. As with every Oliver + S pattern, the instructions are clear and detailed, and it was fun sewing something a bit more detailed than the usual simple dresses I've been making. 

Birthday Party Dress - Front View

Birthday Party Dress - Back View

Birthday Party Dress - button band detail

I was quite pleased that my button hoarding (including random buttons on clothing tags) was useful - the floral button on the front band was saved from a tag on a T-shirt I bought years ago!

Some handy tips:
1) There was some discussion on the oliver + s blog about how to attach the facing. You need to make sure you open up the folded button placket all the way before attaching the facing piece.

2) The fabric I used wasn't very light-weight, and I cut the facing out of the same fabric. Since the facing gets folded into the pleats, I think maybe next time I would use a lighter weight fabric for the facing, just so the top of the dress isn't quite as heavy.

There was enough fabric left so that I could cut out a Puppet Show tunic for A...more on that soon!