I’ve probably said before that Stella can be quite fussy about what she wears.  Sometimes I’ll sew her something in accordance with her direction, and she’ll say that she likes it, then she never wears it.  She’s recently been wearing this dress that I sewed over a year ago.  She’s had a growth spurt, and this dress is really not a dress any more – it’s a tunic.

The pattern is from Ottobre 4 2016. I really don’t use Ottobre patterns as often as I should. I know that it’s tracing them from the pattern sheets that puts me off, but I also know that it really doesn’t take all that long to do it. Definitely no longer than taping together a pdf pattern!

The curved raglan shoulder seams appealed to me.  I had some pink rib trim in stash that contrasted nicely with the plush backed knit from Spotlight, so decided to use that for the neckband, cuffs, and as faux piping to highlight the raglan seam shaping.

Now I have to say that the Spotlight plush backed knit was HORRENDOUS to sew. I will never ever sew with that fabric again, and am glad that it was a remnant that I picked up cheaply. The print is sweet, and the reverse side incredibly soft, but it stretched out of shape whenever I tried to topstitch it and it was bulky along seams. The overlocker dealt with the seam bulk very nicely, but there was no way that I could neatly topstitch the bands or the faux piping so that they would lay flatter.

Anyway, the dress has now been worn as a tunic quite a few times, so my effort in sewing it wasn’t wasted. It’s soft against the skin, which is what Stella likes, and is easy to move in. I’d call this garment a semi-success. I won’t be sad to see it leave her wardrobe in next season’s cull.