Sally dress for a wedding day

We had a wedding to go to for James' cousin so naturally my thoughts ran straight to what could I make for Freya?  It's nice to have an excuse to make something a bit dressier.

I hit Pinterest and Flickr and came away with far too many options,  I also kept changing my mind over what fabric I was going to use.  Arrgh!! Decisions, decisions!! I finally settled on making an Oliver+S Garden party dress.  I still hadn't decided what fabric to use so I decided to do a bit of a dummy run.  Unfortunately that was a bit demoralising.  I'd chosen some fabric in my stash that wasn't really what I'd normally choose and the size was far too big so I had my doubts about the pattern.  I think it would be nice in the right size (as my sister said) and I would like to try sewing it again, but I was starting to run out of time and I didn't want to be sewing up to the last minute,

Finally I settled on the Sally dress pattern in a London Calling fabric.  I'd spotted and liked this fabric weeks ago and hadn't planned on buying any, but my local quilt shop was closing for a couple of weeks so I bought some on the spur of the moment on their last open day.  Thank goodness I did! It sewed beautifully, more like a lawn and had a lovely drape.  It reminded me of Liberty fabric and is a nice flowery print, without reminding me too much of Grandmas :)

For some added interest and to break up the print I added some flat piping.  I was a bit nervous as the bodice and skirt attach in one piece as to how I was going to finish the ends of the piping, and I hadn't really sewn with much piping before but it went together nicely.  In fact I'm not sure if I could make this dress again without some piping now.

The pattern itself is a really lovely one.  I'd made one last year, knowing that technically Freya wasn't in the size range but I thought it may have fit anyway.  I was dead wrong and it swam on her so it was relegated to the back of the cupboard.  Recently I'd pulled it out again and now it fits beautifully, although it can sometimes slip a bit off her shoulders.  In fact it has got a few comments from people and just generally made me smile while she wore it.  The pattern has some lovely details like the two big pockets and THAT neckline!  It's also written in great detail which leaves you with a beautifully lined bodice.  I highly recommend it.  It's great for dressing up but also making a lovely everyday dress.

There's not much more to say, and I think I've said a lot today!  Freya looked very sweet in the dress and I will definitely be making more of this pattern in the future.