First Ottobre "mekko"

(that means "dress" in Finnish!)

For my birthday, I received not one, but two subscriptions to Ottobre Kids magazine! Guess everyone knew how I plan spend the rest of my maternity leave. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on the baby, too.

Like Japanese patterns, Ottobre's patterns require a fair amount of elbow grease on the part of the sewist. You start with scary pattern sheets that look like this. You have to locate your pattern pieces, trace them onto tissue paper, add seam allowances, and then figure out the cutting layout. Some of this grunt work is actually pretty interesting, since you really have to think through how the garments are constructed.

So, about this dress. It's the "plum tree" dress in size 74 sewn in 100% linen. As I wrote about earlier this week, I have been rethinking my fabric choices for little ones after reading a particular blog post. The author came out strong for linens and I decided to try it. Linen is very yummy to sew, since it's thick and sturdy yet flexible. I like its rumpled look for kids' clothes, and the colors are rich with depth.

The dress features pockets (from a different pattern, btw) of Echino fabric, whose butterflies match the dress perfectly...










...and a mock placket with cotton lace and buttons. I haven't sewn lace since I was in elementary school, and like gathers, I think I'll be seeing a lot of it in the coming years as I sew for Liora!