Revisiting patterns I've made before

I really need to get a remote control for my camera.  And some full length mirrors in this house.

Here is yet another (and the last for a while) summer blouse from the Heather Ross Weekend Sewing pattern.  Can you tell how much I love this pattern?  The swingy shape means that it works really well in thicker cottons, and as soon as I got this stiff, very old, very white cotton sheet from my Grandmother, I knew part of it would end up as a summer blouse.  The trim is a Kaffe Fassett quilting cotton - one called Henna, in navy, which you can see towards the bottom of this page.

Although I still think it is slightly wierd to make so many outifts from the same pattern, I love seeing how they work in different fabrics.  And once you've made the pattern before it comes together so very quickly - no tracing pattern pieces, no cutting out of pattern pieces, and no headaches working out the instructions or wondering what modifications to go for.  Lazy sewing with impressive results - perfect.

Another pattern that I have revisited is the Oliver + S Ice Cream Dress that I moaned about here.  This time I made the top version, and I like it much better.

Some things about this pattern still annoyed me, but I knew they would and I worked round them.  The unfolded pattern peices bugged me.  Usually, for dress pieces that are symmetrical - like the front of a dress or top - the pattern piece is for half of the top, and it is cut on the fold.  Oliver + S pieces (in this pattern at least) are symmetrical but printed unfolded, and last time I found arranging the pattern pieces on the fabric rather tricky; I ended up with a great deal of wasted fabric.  So this time round I simply folded the pattern pieces in half and retraced them.  Much easier. 

These fabrics were much easier to align than the tiny gingham I used last time, and preparing the yoke made more sense because I'd already done it before.  I do like this notch detail on the neck.

It fits Livvy okay - but not well.  She is a tall 7 year old, and I made this top in the size 8, which matched her height.  Next time I'll make the size 6, but extend the length to the size 10.  I still think - as for the dress - that it comes out too short and wide for older children.  The pink polka dot fabric is from Cath Kidston, and the contrast fabric on the top of the yoke is an old IKEA fabric, which I've used in so many things and I'm now nearly out of.  The top is hemmed with an ordinary hem, which I liked much better than the double pannelled hem on the dress.

And then I added some ricrac, because you can never have too much ricrac.