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Mar
14

9 Comments

Oliver + S: Garden Party Blouse {Spring Pattern Preview}


“The Garden Party Dress offers all sorts of creative options. You can choose to make either a sweet everyday dress or blouse or the ultimate fancy dress or blouse. Both views feature a pretty shirred front bodice, gathered skirt, and a keyhole back-neck opening. The dress version includes cute cap sleeves while the blouse option is sleeveless, but you can mix and match to create a variety of darling styles from one pattern. This pattern is also perfect for embellishing with ribbons, embroidery, or even smocking.”

Oliver and S, Garden Party Dress / Blouse
To say we’ve had our eyes on some “shirred dresses” recently would be the understatement of the century! We’ve actually come very close to pulling the trigger and ordering a few {to continue our “pattern hoarding” trend of late}. Lucky for us, however, we were saved….and in the nick of time, we were able to secure a beautifully shirred dress / blouse pattern from yours truly – Liesl of Oliver and S!
What was that?? I couldn’t quite hear you???
Brace yourself: the Garden Party Dress / Blouse was just what we were looking for!!
A dress.
A blouse.
Something casual.
Something dressy / formal.
What more could we want??
Before taking a ‘go’ at the more formal / fancy look this pattern has to offer, we opted to sew a casual and fun blouse for CL. You know….to familiarize ourselves with the instructions, pattern pieces, and construction of the garment. Love, love, love it!

This garment was easy – peasy to sew! The two scissor difficulty level didn’t disappoint….in fact, our most difficult challenge came as we tried to fussy-cut the patterned fabric of the various pieces.

CL thought she was “rocking” the latest and trendiest look around. It was quite amusing to watch! Photos took all of ten minutes – tops!! Oh, to have all photoshoots go as seemlessly…

We did a little “stash busting” and opted to use fabric B only on the front and back waistband {with additional piping :)}, tying into the fabric used on the capris.

Speaking of capris…..How about those sweet pants?? Recognize them?? They are none other than the Oliver and S, After School Pants – only to be cut at the side panel {with hem length added} to create a capri look. 

And….it actually worked :)!! This was our first time to sew these pants, and enjoyed trying our hands at another fabulous Oliver and S pattern in the process…

So, now we’re off to bigger  {yes, the next Garden Party Dress / Blouse will be for EA} and possibly a more signature-esque sort of creation for the next version sewn of this versatile pattern. 

Did you notice these words in the directions…??
This pattern is also perfect for embellishing with 
ribbons, embroidery, or even smocking.
Yeah, we did too….so we aim to take a “go” at it, and let you know how we fare!!
It’s sure to be a completely different look than this sweet blouse…
but to say we are excited about it, would be an understatement!!

Specifications: 
18 – 24 mo, Garden Party Blouse and After School Pants {altered to capri length}
fabrics: BasicGrey / Hello Luscious for Moda and Bella Butterfly 
by Patty Sloniger for Michael Miller fabrics {TJ Fabrics}

** Please note: The Oliver and S, Garden Party Dress / Blouse was generously given to us, but as always everything written is our honest opinions. 



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Kathy E.