Oliver + S Birthday Party Dress

I really love the Oliver + S patterns. I think they have a small, but lovely line of kids patterns all of which have lovely details incorporated into them. I bought the Birthday Party Dress pattern the first month I started sewing after seeing it made up several times on the Oliver + S blog. While we have no kids, I have an abundance of friends with little girls and I knew it would make a great gift for one of them.
I've been a bit obsessed with orange this summer - I love pairing it with teal, pink, purple and especially navy blue. It can really take an outfit and kick it up a notch. After seeing this dress made up in a lovely navy blue silk with yellow accents on the company's blog, I thought I'd use that navy and orange combo I love so much for the dress. Instead of using a plain navy fabric, I found a fun navy and white polka dot quilting cotton that I thought was perfect for a little girl. This pattern is suggested for an intermediate sewist, which means I probably shouldn't have even considered it. But, I'm stubborn and really wanted to make the dress, even though it was obviously for someone more advanced than I. I'm pleased to say that while it was time consuming and I had to really follow the very well written directions, I completed the dress with no major snafus and it turned out so well! I was even surprised to see that the inside was just as nice as the outside. I love this little dress and I swear, if I had a daughter, she'd have a closet full of these by now! I love the tab front detail and the hem-facing, both of which I made in bright orange broadcloth. I used matching bright orange buttons down the back which helps tie all the orange accents together. The polka dot fabric was a bit heavier than was probably called for for the dress, so the pleats in front are in there really well. I think I'll use a lighter weight cotton for the next one so the pleats open up a bit more at the botton of the dress. All that being said, I think this is a great pattern and the dress made a great birthday gift for a very cute little 2 year old. I forsee making many more of these in the future!