Shy Bear dress (Ottobre 04/2017 12.)

The schools start on Thursday next week here in Finland and my first-grader is waiting for her first school day enthusiastically. I found some really nice jerseys at Eurokangas and wanted to make something cool and modern but still comfortable. I chose the Ottobre 04/2017 12. Shy bear.

Shy bear is a perfect pattern to combine two different fabrics with its different top and bottom parts. Handy little pockets are hidden in the seam. The name of the pattern comes from a really cute bear face appliqué. I left the appliqué out this time but am planning to use it in some other version of this dress. The sleeves are 3/4 sleeves which I think are really handy – long enough to be warm but short enough not to be in way.

The sizes range from 92 to 128 cm. My daughter is currently almost 120 cm tall so I went with 122 cm size which turned out to be a good choice.

I made the top part of the dress out of black and white checked ponte weight jersey and used yellow jersey for the bottom part.

Sewing this dress took a little more concentration than usual due to the pocket construction that was new to me. I like the outcome though! I could easily imagine doing pockets like this even for a dress for myself.

The back of the dress is similarly divided into the black and white top and the yellow skirt.

I finished all the edges using my cover stitch machine which has turned out to be a very handy machine. All the edges look really professionally finished. However, a sewing machine with a cover stitch or a double needle would work, too, if you don’t own a cover stitch machine.

S thinks that this dress is a very nice dress for a first-grader and can’t wait to show it to her friends. She also thinks that it is very comfortable to wear during playing. When we took the pictures, she found some matching yellow flowers, too!

I am also happy with this make and I can warmly recommend this pattern for everyone.