Ottobre 03/2013-17 polka dot dress

On Myra's last day home with me before she started Kindergarten last week, I asked her what she wanted to do. She choose fabric shopping at IKEA! I love that kid. Anyway, she picked out a home dec weight cotton in red with large polka dots and told me she wanted a dress.

I think it was the perfect choice. It couldn't have turned out any sweeter.

The pattern I used is from the 03/2013 issue of Ottobre, design #17. The only change I made to the dress was to leave it unlined. The fabric is quite heavy and I thought another layer, even of Bemburg, would have been insufferably hot. Instead, I bound the neckline with bias.

I generally find that Ottobre dresses run a little short for Myra, so I lengthened this one to the next size line just in the skirt. That's a typical alteration for her. I like the length it is, but I also think the length as drafted would have been fine, so it looks like this style is a little longer than usual.

In back, there is an invisible zip, which lined up quite nicely at the waist. I also put a small button and loop at the top, concealed under the collar. I like the way the collar squares off at the back - a nice detail that is different from most peter pan style collars. I'm also pretty pleased with the way the polka dots lined up throughout the dress. In a print that large, a mismatch would have been pretty obvious, so I'm glad they behaved.

My favorite detail of this sweet little dress is the front "placket". It is actually a pair of pintucks pressed away from center front with decorative buttons down the center. Pretty sneaky, eh? The front is cut on the fold, which made aligning the dots super easy there. And I didn't have to sew a full placket, which made this dress pretty quick to sew.

Myra loves it! And it's great for dancing. Just don't tell her she looks like a Dalek... ;)