Chlo...livia!

Over a year ago I posted a picture of the childrens' book character Olivia and wrote about how I finally found the fabric to sew my daughter Chloe an outfit like Olivia's. It is a red jumper with red and white striped leggings and red and white striped shirt. Well, turned out that when I took a closer look at the picture on fabric.com, it was just not going to be right (stripes too narrow) so I didn't order it and I put that little project off until I could find the perfect striped knit fabric. 

I had almost given up when surprise! I got a piece of the perfect stuff in this "bonanza box" of solid and striped knits from the fabric fairy (my kids had no idea there was such a person and were in absolute awe). And, on the same day I received an issue of Ottobre that had the perfect pieces for this outfit. Chloe wanted me to make it immediately. She's learning to imagine how fabric and patterns will turn out and I love it.

I love how it turned out. You can't see it, but there's a little pocket on the front yoke like Olivia's. I had to shorten the sleeves because the fabric was just not big enough to squeeze all the pieces on there without alteration. I'm not too disappointed about that because she can wear the shirt now without waiting for cold weather. 

I also put black trim on the shirt (another deviation from Olivia's) because I thought it would look cuter when she wore it with jeans or black pants. And isn't that pants design funny? I hated it in the magazine and only made it because I could use solid red for part of the pants and still have just enough striped fabric to 'make it work' :). Now, however, I love the pants! It kind of looks like she's wearing red shorts with leggings underneath. (sorry for the fuzzy pics. I hate using flash in the house.)

Then, right before bedtime, the fabric fairy showed up...

Yes, my daughter called herself the fabric fairy. She is going to love fabric as much as I do.