I’ve long admired the Oliver + S Puppet Show Dress, but despite much internet scouring (much like my experience with the Playdate Dress), I was never able to find a copy of the pattern after it went out of print. Then a few months ago Oliver + S came to the rescue and released it as their first digital pattern, so I decided to give it a try for Christmas this year.
I’d personally rather pay a little more for an original copy of the pattern, mostly because they’re such lovely things to have around, but I must say, the pdf version was flawless. They give you the option of printing the pattern pieces on 8.5 x 11 paper at home, or in one large sheet at a place like Kinko’s. I priced it out at Kinko’s but $9 seemed steep, so I used my own printer. Any pattern pieces that were too large to fit on one sheet of paper were printed with a one-inch grid behind them, which made them really easy to line up. And everything lined up perfectly, which never seems to happen for me when I print a pattern from a pdf file. Cutting and piecing was was time consuming (it took me over an hour to prep all the pieces), but the fact that everything fit together so nicely made it all okay.
I got stuck with the directions at one point – I must have reread them ten times and I still couldn’t wrap my mind around what I was supposed to do. Luckily, I was working on the dress at the Friday Night “Sew-cial” at Modern Domestic (a gorgeous classroom/open sewing studio and Bernina dealership in NE Portland), which meant there was someone on duty to answer questions (none other than Shelly Figueroa of Sewing for Boys and Patterns by Figgy’s!) – she helped me make sense of the directions, and the rest was pretty much smooth sailing.
And those three hours I spent on this Bernina 330 kinda ruined any love I ever had for my own machine. It was pretty dreamy.
Anyway, here’s Lila in the dress. It’s a 2T and it ended up fitting pretty well, I think.
I love the sweet little details, like the peter pan collar, puffed sleeves, and button-up sleeve cuffs.
The not-so-Christmasy fabric is a pink and red Moda pindot from the Ruby line by Bonnie & Camille, and the collar and sleeve cuffs are Kona Snow.
I’ll admit, the inside of this dress is less than beautiful, but hey, it’s the inside after all. And I didn’t finish the hem facing by hand, I just didn’t have it in me. I was really just ready for it to be done so that I didn’t have to tell Lila that her daddy would be putting her to bed again because I needed to work on her dress. To which she responded each time, “No YOU put me to bed, and daddy will work on my dress!” I tried to explain to her how ridiculous that suggestion was, but she didn’t find it anywhere near as hilarious as I did.
And last but not least, a photo from her visit with Santa today. I know, poor Baby Girl, forced to wear last year’s Christmas dress again. This was the best shot we got – totally stone-faced and leaning toward safety.
But you can’t hope for a gem like this every year…
i love the dress, and can vouch for the fact that it’s even more beautiful in person! as for those santa photos, you had me laughing out loud once again at last year’s. so classic. still makes me giggle that you have it framed and on prominent display in your house! 😀
Love the dress…LOVED THE 2010 picture with santa!!!
That is one evil Santa!
(and one very cute dress)
Is that the same Santa for both years? I have a similar picture of my son.
oh, I laughed out loud!! my Lila is confused by this picture, haha
Love the dress! How is it that I’ve had that pattern for several years and have yet to sew the dress?
Our youngest refuses to get with in 20 feet of any Santa. She’s the only one of my 4 who has never had a picture with SC!
Ooh, I love it! I love the peppermint pindot with the white collar! It’s fabulous! I’ve been meaning to make this one (I was lucky enough to get one of the last printed patterns) and now I really want to after seeing yours.
That last Santa picture is absolutely priceless!
The dress is beautiful and that 2010 pic is classic. That MUST end up in a slideshow at a graduation, wedding, etc. one day.
Thanks for the review of the patter PDF. I, too, was never able to find the pattern (want it esp. for the adorable shorts!) and so was considering buying the PDF. Like the price, but not the work of all the piecing together! Your review encouraged me that it is do-able!
I so loved that last picture of your Lila! Those are the classic pics that are stressful at the time but so much fun to look back on later:)
oh my b and lila have the exact same poses and expressions. take heart though, s actually wanted to go on santa’s lap this year and even managed a smile and a short conversation. love the dress by the way.
oh, this dress is so darling! that collar is the sweetest. ….and those santa photos… priceless!
I just stumbled onto your blog through Pinterest. At the risk of sounding silly and gushy I just have to say how smitten I am with your darling blog and your amazing sewing style. I have a 2-year-old daughter and I can’t wait to try some of the patterns you have made. So very happy I found you keep up the good work!
thank you very much! 🙂
HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Love the Santa pic! I’ve got a few doozies too, but none to match that!
Great post – love the dress, and the pics!
I discovered your blog recently and it is just gorgeous! Its one of my absolute favourites. I have to say, that photo of her with Santa in her new dress is soooooo amazing! Its almost vintage.. and she, your daughter, is just seriously CUTE!