The Sofilantjes Summer Surprise Anniversary Tour!

Thanks for stopping by to visit Day 3 of the Summer Surprise Anniversary Tour! The tour was arranged by Deb of Sprouting JubeJube and is to celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of Sofilantjes Patterns and the Summer Surprise Dress and Top. It's been a great year for Anne and her pattern company, and I'm excited to be joining the tour. I've had this pattern since it was released last year, and Anne has made some great updates to it in time for the celebration this week - including enabling the layers feature for printing only your size, which I LOVE and appreciate.

Miss P lost her second tooth today! :)

There is a huge size range (from 6 months to 12 years) AND Anne has drafted the pattern for regular sizes and slim sizes as well. This means if your child's chest measurement is different from their height measurement, you won't have to mix and match multiple sizes to get a good fit. Miss P's chest and hips measure 22", but she's nearly 45" tall, so I often have to do a bit of mixing and matching. For the Summer Surprise, I used the slim size 4, and the fit was spot on.

I decided for this tour to mix things up a bit more, though, so I added the Gemini skirt pattern (view A) and made a cute blousy dress for P. I started by cutting the top about an inch shorter - I could have shortened by another two inches or so, but I wanted the top to blouse over the top of the skirt, since it's so fitted. I used the Gemini skirt in the size 5/6, but I'd say in the future I could even go up another size.

For the waistband, I cut two bands (at half the height of the Gemini pattern piece, since it wasn't going to be folded over as in the pattern) and encased my elastic between them. I basted the top and bottom of the waistband closed, and attached the top of the waistband to the shirt hem (I used a long basting stitch to gather the hem of the shirt to fit the waistband) and the bottom of the waistband to the skirt waist.

I used 1.25" elastic for the waistband and used the same measurement that I typically use for skirts/shorts for Miss P - I think next time I'll make it about an inch bigger, since this sat a little snugly on her. Of course, it may have been that we were taking pics in the evening and she'd eaten a huge dinner! ;)

Overall, it was an easy sew - the instructions for both patterns are clear, well-written, and easy to follow - and the finished look is what I intended. I love the details on the Summer Surprise top; the bow detail in the back, the width of the bands on the neck and arms, and the pleat in the front at the neckline all make for a unique but very wearable garment. I'll be making more of these for sure!