Back to School, big heads, a printable and a giveaway!

My oldest child started kindergarten last week and my other son started preschool. It was a big week and I didn't have much time for blogging.  This was K's honorary back to school dress. It was just right for seeing big brothers off to school! (And if I'm honest, it was the only clean and presentable thing I could pull out of her closet that morning.)

I’ve been meaning to post my ice cream dress alteration for some time, but have been distracted with some other sewing, as well as planning my Fall Palette Challenge. (The dress you see in my new fall banner is coming soon, I promise, and it’s worth waiting for!)  The Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress has become one of my wardrobe staples. It has a generous fit, which helps it last a long time – except that babies and toddlers usually have disproportionately large heads. Most babies don’t like things pulled over their heads either, so it becomes a struggle.  The neck is already wide, so that’s not a good place to adjust. Instead, I added a deeper opening in the back using a placket.

Below are photos as well as – wait for it! – a pdf you can print with instructions and a tiny pattern for the placket piece!  And, because I made three of these for the sake of pictures, I will give the other two dresses – one size 18 months and one size 3T – to two lucky readers. Use them for your own children or as gifts. They are made from the highly desirable Joel Dewberry Aviary collection in a perfectly autumn colorway.  To win the dresses, become a follower of my blog with the Google widget to the right and leave a comment below that includes your email address and which size you'd prefer. I’ll choose a winner at random on Friday and announce it. Then you can email me your mailing address and I’ll pop it in the post. 

 

It's not a difficult process, so I'll just let you read the instructions on the pdf, but I thought the pictures would be helpful. Basically, you cut a placket shape out of a scrap of fabric, attach it to the dress back, stitch around the opening, cut it open and flip the whole thing around to the inside. Then topstitch it carefully and construct the dress pretty much as normal except that you'll have to separate sides on the back. This actually makes it a little easier to assemble too.

 I've seen one or two other solutions out there for this problem, so I know I'm not the only one who has to make a large head adjustment to the pattern. You could also make a keyhole opening by binding a slit with bias tape. It's really up to you, but I hope you find my solution useful.

This is Kitty's 18month sized dress. The other 18month one looks exactly the same - it's a short dress for ease of crawling and exploring. The 3T dress has pockets and the contrasting band at the hem. The contrast is a Kaffe Fasset shot cotton in an orange-y red that matches the flowers. These wash easily and are great play dresses. So follow, comment and check back Friday to see who won!

And because I have your attention, here's a gratuitous shot of my first born baby all grown up in his summer uniform after his very first day at Kindergarten!

[updated to add]

 Thanks for all your comments! I'm glad to hear you find my technique useful. Here's a picture of the size 3T brown bird dress. There's still time to leave your name to win back to school dresses! (Don't forget to follow publicly with Google Friend Connect so I can see you. )