Wrap Around Dress...

A while ago I purchased Mary Go 'Round, a little girls' dress, from Patterns by Figgy's. It's a wrap around dress that is fully lined. There is only one pattern piece, cut twice; one for the right side and one for the lining. The fabric I chose for the right side is Fairy Castle by Fabri Quilt. 

All went well until I misread the instructions. I sewed the lining and the right side armholes together before I turned the dress right side out. Well, of course I couldn't turn it. Yes, the instructions did clearly state not to do that, but I skimmed over that section and misread the next section. Oh well, that's why all machines come with a seam ripper. Some days, mine gets lots of use.

I used store bought bias around the armholes. Next time I might make my own bias to match the lining material, but this time I just used the store bought bias I already had. Apart from my mistake and needing to unpick stitching, sewing the bias was the longest part of the project. As I only had a narrow bias, I thought it would look better if I hand sewed the bias to the inside. As it's a wrap around dress, there are actually three armholes.

My new machine has an automatic buttonhole, which is absolutely fantastic. It's so easy. Using the automatic buttonhole, meant I couldn't put a really large button on like I wanted. I didn't want to fiddle and go back to doing a buttonhole without the automatic stitch, so I chose a slightly smaller button. Perhaps there's a way to do a large buttonhole on automatic. I'd love to know.

I'm happy with the little dress. As usual, Patterns by Figgy's have provided clear and detailed instructions, which are easy to follow (as long as you actually read them). The end result is a cute little dress. As it's fully lined, it will be quite warm. I think it would look good teamed with leggings and a t-shirt.

Edited to add: I've made a slight alteration to the dress, by adding an extra button. It seemed to need the extra button to make it sit correctly. You can see a picture here.