Oliver + S The Carousel Dress
We love the contemporary look of the Oliver + S childrens sewing patterns and have had our eye on The Carousel Dress for some time now! The image on the pattern cover shows the dress being worn by a young girl, however the modern panel pieces and top-stitching make it equally suitable for older girls.
For our first make of this pattern we've used Robert Kaufman's Washed Indigo Denim with contrast stitching for a modern look; and we're making View "B" with the smooth hem panel. This pattern has no buttonholes to contend with or set-in sleeves which makes for an easy sewing project.
If you're going to top-stitch the dress, it's worth taking the time to experiment with different colours before deciding on the colour to go with. And always worth asking the wearer what she thinks too!
Worth highlighting is the fact that these patterns only have a 1cm seam allowance compared to the more standard 1.5cm, although this is referenced throughout but we thought it worth a mention here too.
The instructions are well laid out and very clear. That said, do make sure that you're reading the instructions properly, this might sound obvious, but most of the time when we're sewing we're placing the two "right" sides of the fabric together, so do take care when you pin the pockets to the two side panels that you follow the instructions and pin the WRONG side of the pocket to the RIGHT side of the panel piece! Unlike me the first time round, see the photo above for what not to do!! And below is "take two" with the pockets pinned correctly.
Other than that our make was pretty straightforward, and came together fairly quickly. We decided against the top-stitching round the hem panel, as for this project we felt it was just a little too much.
The button at the back neck is secured with a thread chain loop, this is really easy to do and looks really effective. For detailed instructions click here.
We really enjoyed making this pattern and love the end result. This is a style that you could make over and over; and depending on your fabric choices it would look different every time! It would look great for instance in Robert Kaufman's striped Navy & Cream Railroad Denim, or one of our Organic Cotton Ginghams. A Colour-blocked version in our Organic Cotton Crossweaves would also work really well, as would a patterned version with solid colour cuffs and hem.
As you can see the possibilities really are limitless! We'd love to see how you make yours, so do send your photos in via the email address in our contact page.