Thursday, July 9, 2015

Oliver+S Meets the Very Hungry Caterpillar

"The next day was Sunday again.  The caterpillar ate through one nice green leaf and after that he felt much better."

Oliver+S "Ice Cream Dress"  Size 3

Every year at the end of March our school recognizes Eric Carle and his vast contribution  to children's literature.  The preschool, Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade classes study/celebrate his works most of the month of March.  Of course, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, with its counting, days of the week, and life cycle theme is one of the books enjoyed the most.  

My little friend, Chloe, needed a special dress for the culminating all-day event at the end of the unit in her Pre-K class.  I turned to the Oliver+S "Ice Cream Dress" because the Dr. Suess dress had come out so cute and looked darling on her.  (See post here.)  This time I made the dress just a tad longer and made only one leaf shaped pocket.

Leaf shaped pocket with appliqued caterpillar.

I took the leaf shape from a Hungry Caterpillar quilting panel, appliqued it with a caterpillar from another Hungry Caterpillar fabric, and lined it with white cotton.  You can purchase fabrics from Eric Carle's fabric lines in some quilting shops but I have the best luck just buying directly from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art (HERE).

The back of the Oliver+S dress has a simple closure with a fabric loop and a pretty button.  I love this feature but if your child has a larger than average head size, it can make getting the dress on and off a tiny bit of a struggle.  For Chloe, it isn't an issue but I have read that it can be for some children.  For those children, (my own daughter would have been one of them) I would suggest making an easy continuous bound placket or a little facing piece for a couple of inches into the skirt section.

I managed to remember to bring my camera on the big day and caught Chloe at lunch in the cafeteria.  She loved her dress and received many compliments on it.


I think that this length looked perfect on her.  Needless to say, when she tried it on for me recently, it was much shorter but it fit fine otherwise.  Chloe has been going through a growth spurt!  The dress will be a tunic if she can still wear it next March!



Yay!  Ice cream!  Yay! O+S "Ice Cream"!

May all who read this have a day filled with blessings and happiness!

10 comments:

  1. What little girl wouldn't love a pocket like that! Chloe is such a darling!

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  2. Chloe is a gift! I'm glad that you like the pocket, Charity. It was a bit of trial and error because I had to lose the stem for it to all come together.

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  3. Chloe looks so lovely in her special dress.
    I would not worry about it not fitting, my children have simply enormous heads and as long as I did the front notch, it fitted.
    (I did run into trouble when I omitted it)

    I am glad you have Chloe to sew for. I had a special girl I sewed for when I was waiting to have my own little ones. She is all grown up now but I still have a special place in my heart for her.
    xx N

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  4. Thank you for the tip on fitting the dress, Nicole. I am so glad that I have these little girls to sew for, too. I must confess, though. I have sewn some things for "Figment", my future grandchild!

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  5. 'Figment', that is perfect!

    I tell my lot if they don't want hand sewn for their children I am sewing all my fabric up to send over seas to the poor children.
    I shall be a mad old lady, just me and my patterns.
    xx N

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  6. We'll be mad old ladies together then. ;) I will continue to sew for others until my hands and eyes stop working but I sure hope my children want the things I make. I love the creative outlet and find hand work relaxing. Are you doing any hand work on your holiday trip?

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  7. I tried to sneak in some but Jed said 'NO'.
    That said, most nights I had ironing to do so I still had beautiful fabric to play with.

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    Replies
    1. I bet you are petting your new fabric and making sketches of what you can make with your goodies.

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  8. Karen, What a great dress! I will have to get this pattern. My 5 year-old granddaughter will love it. Thanks for sharing. Come join the linky party. I would love to see this posted on Snickerdoodle Sunday!

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    Replies
    1. It is a wonderful pattern and looks great on every child. I will have to go to Snickerdoodle Sunday. Thank you for the invitation!

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