The straw that broke the camel’s back

My mother in law has been nice enough to lend me her sewing machine over the past few months.  It’s a bit vintage – the newest it could be (I looked up the model number) is 57 years old – they stopped making this model in 1954, but it’s been great.  The only thing that is hard sometimes is that it only does a straight stitch, nothing too fancy.  Actually, it probably keeps me from trying anything above my ability level while I continue to learn to sew.  I may need to have it tuned up, though, because at the end of this last project it began to moan, squeak and move incredibly slowly.  The bottom hem of the dress took over a minute, just to get around the bottom one time.  I was just happy that it let me finish the project!

I have fallen head over heels for a line of patterns by Oliver + S.  Their patterns are super cute – they remind me a lot of the clothes that Evie, who I nanny, wears and she has some pretty cute stuff.  It’s more classic looking in style and you can easily make adjustments and change the look by choosing different fabrics.

This dress is my favorite so far, mostly because it only cost about $4 total!  The pattern was free on the Oliver + S blog and I found a great deal on cute clearance fabric at Hancock Fabrics.  I tend to judge a book by it’s cover (actually, that’s how I found my Oliver +S book – it was SO cute!!), and Hancock Fabrics is a bit ghetto inside, but I like the style of their fabrics patterns more than those I find at JoAnn’s.


Unfortunately, Sophia may not be able to wear this until next spring.  There was only a teeny-tiny difference in the sizing for the size 2 and the size 3 so I decided to go for the size 3 thinking it would last longer, but it turned out to be much too wide on her.  I probably should have just gone for the size 2 and made it a bit longer than suggested. 

Oh well – that little whoops inspired me and now my newest goal/project is to make 90% of our girls wardrobe for spring and summer next year.  Well, that and the other three or four that are in the works, but on stand by until the sewing machine situation is resolved.