Jump Rope for winter

Back when I made A her birthday Jump Rope dress I was immediately reminded of what a delightful pattern it is, and since I'd traced off the view B as well, I jumped (get it) straight back in for another round.

The View B is the same gorgeous placket and collar, but this time with an A line dress, long sleeves and sweet little gathered pockets.

I'd previously made it way back when she was just learning to stand up, let alone jump rope, and used a corduroy for winter. I think it's a lovely winter dress. Ready for a flashback?....

How does that happen? …. I swear I haven't changed a jot, or aged a day.... :)

I think this fabric purchase might have dated way back to 2012 as well. I'd originally bought it intending to make her a trench coat, but then decided it would look a bit more patchwork dressing gown and less haute couture than I was imagining. 

It sat in the stash for ages and then eventually I made myself an Everyday Skirt with it. Blog post confirms that skirt was 2014.... I worse that skirt A LOT. All through winter I'd wear it with tights, boots and a long sleeved plain t-shirt. It was quite surprising how many different tops it actually went well with. Eventually it was too big and so I sent it off to the charity shop. Hopefully somebody else is enjoying it.

So, with no fear of matchy-matchy, the fabric could be revisited.

It's a poly-suiting with a slight velvet/flocked feel. Weird, but nice. I'd love to say I used it all up but there's probably enough for a little tote bag or similar. Which reminds me: I do have a clutch bag that I made for Frocktails 2017 to go with my red dress. I guess she could borrow my Ida Clutch for the whole ensemble look :)

We were snapping photos of this dress on a cold, rainy day back in March. Every now and then the rain would stop and we'd take a few picks. Then the rain would start again, but the sun was still shining and the rain blowing sideways. It was a modelling challenge alright. She's tough.

Of course I hope to see it worn as it looks lovely on, but mostly I just made it because I wanted to. That pattern, that fabric and the moment came over me. 

Details:

Pattern: Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress, View B

Size: 8, no modifications

Fabric: Poly suiting from GJ's way, way back.

Notions: Buttons from the stash.

Jump Rope Birthday Dress

It occurred to me, about three days out from A's eighth birthday that I didn't have a new dress to gift her. I've been sewing lots for her lately but a birthday called for a special dress.

It also dawned on me that there is a whole bundle of Oliver + S patterns that stop at size 8 (sniff). I desperately wanted to give at least one of them one last turn on the machine. I pulled out three patterns (Jump Rope, Playdate and Birthday Party) and some fabrics I thought would match. I made some pairings of fabric and pattern and let her choose. Of course she chose a different fabric/pattern pairing than I'd envisioned....

… And she chose the most complicated of all the patterns knowing full well I only had a few sewing sessions before the upcoming birthday. Cheeky sod.

So this is the Jump Rope Dress, view A. It happens to be the first pattern I ever sewed for her. Once I"d come home with my new baby girl, the very first thing I made was a size 2 Jump Rope dress in a Heather Ross fabric. It looked enormous next to this newborn (I'd say little newborn but she was a whopping 4.2kg at birth). it took her almost two years to grow into it. But here it is being worn.

I've always had a soft spot for this pattern. I've made the View A four times now and the View B once, and used the placket to make polo tops for her too. The placket instructions were one of the first sewing things that made me feel like a superstar.

The fabric that she chose was the one I had paired up with the Playdate dress. It's a synthetic something or other that is incredibly soft and has the black floral motif as a flocked velvet effect. I had it in mind as a more autumn/winter dress but she was not to be swayed.

The Playdate is a dress pattern I've only sewn once before and I remember being so delighted with it I wondered why I ever delayed. I'm definitely going to revisit that one while she's still a size 8, and maybe in another double gauze like the first.

I've got a feeling the fabric came from a local vietnamese fabric shop and so was probably less than $5/m. I've had it in the stash for a while now and I've no idea how long the cut was, but this dress pattern fit on it with less than an A4 page area leftover at the end. Seriously satisfying.

The metal buttons were in my button stash and have these sweet little carriages on them.

Don't look too closely at the fabric's pattern lines. There was only just enough fabric to cut the dress pattern and definitely not enough to think about matching the background plaid. That's kind of liberating really. ;)

As predicted, I thoroughly enjoyed the sewing, and while there's lots of steps with pockets, beltloops and belt, sleeve tabs, collar and placket... It all still came together easily and fairly rapidly.

The fit on this little dress is just divine. I'd be delighted if a shirtdress bodice came straight out of the packet and fit my shoulders, chest and waist like that!

Of course I'd traced off view B as well and once I saw that bodice fit I couldn't help myself but sewed that version up too! You'll have to wait for cooler weather to see that one.

There's no way I can let go of those other patterns that max out at size 8. I've already cut the Birthday Party dress. I have plans for the Playdate, fully intend on making another Sunday Brunch "suit" and might even crack out the Sailboat pattern again as shorts... Cause from now on, unless I'm sewing them as gifts for someone else's kids, I'd have to wait until I might be a grandma!

And now, I'll leave you with A's impression of a flamingo!

Details:

Pattern: Oliver + S Jump Rope Dress, View A

Size: 8

Mods: none

Fabric and buttons from stash

Juggling Jott Jump Rope Dress

"And, now, come to this spot

Where the spotlight is hot

And you'll see in the spotlight

A Juggling Jott

Who can juggle some stuff

You might think he could not...

Such as twenty-two question marks,

Which is a lot.

Also forty-four commas

And, also, one dot!

That's the kind of Circus McGurkus I've got!"

Dr Seuss - If I Ran the Circus

This dress certainly has more than forty-four commas, and many more dots! 

I first saw this fabric about three years ago and loved the idea of a punctuation dress. I bought the fabric an embarrassingly long time ago (from Urban Sew) and stashed it away. With the Oliver + S monochrome challenge underway it seemed the perfect time to finally sew it up.

I didn't get a lot of enthusiasm from A when she first saw it, but once I got "If I Ran the Circus" off the bookshelf and read her the passage about the Juggling Jott, and pointed out all her commas and dots, she was all over it. 

Personally, I love it. The pattern is the Oliver + S Jump Rope dress and it never fails to please. This is my third version of View A (here's the first and second) and I've made view B three times before as well (one, two and three). I've also used the pattern to make a girl's polo shirt and borrowed the placket instructions for a boy's polo shirt. If you want to feel like a sewing rock star then sew this placket. You are guaranteed to be doing the happy dance around your sewing table and feeling very smug.

The details of the dress pattern are a bit lost in the print from a distance, so let's have some close ups shots:

The very first dress I made for A was this pattern. I made a size 2, simply because I could not see myself dressing a non ambulatory baby in such a detailed dress. When I'd finished, it looked enormous and I could barely imagine her ever growing into it.

But she did eventually grow (oh those first 20 months seemed to go on for ever) and she wore it until she was almost 4 years old. It's a fairly generously sized pattern, but at the same time it's one of those dresses that is best put on by putting the kids hands in first then arms above their head to bring it down and get the shoulders in.

Anyway, without measuring her, I randomly nominated a size 4 with the skirt length extended to the size 5 line. And it's a perfect fit.

While I'm prone to turning my nose up at quilting cottons, whenever I do sew one I find it refreshingly easy to work with. This Moda fabric behaved very nicely and while it's a coarser fabric to the Art Gallery quilting cottons that I last used, it drapes nicely and still feels soft.

I'm kind of hoping that she'll choose to wear this dress to one of her school orientation mornings next month. If she's anything like her brother she won't be able to stop herself from pointing out which are the commas, and which are the full stops.  And that's the kind of nerdy grammar stuff that makes my heart sing. :)

Summer has come early, and somewhat ferociously, so we headed down to the beach to play and take some pictures. At first she wanted to hold my hand to get from one rock to another, but within a few minutes she was leaping and following P as best she could. It's amazing to watch those physical skills get practiced and the confidence that comes with it. Of course they both ended up with wet shoes, but hey, it was warm.

If I had my choice between sitting and watching organised sport on a Saturday morning, or watching rock hopping I know which I'd choose. If only the dead sea birds didn't smell so bad.