Last spring I thought it was time to make some clothes for Caroline and I'd run across a pattern line called Portobello Pixie. The offerings were utterly delicious. So I bought three patterns and made first a pair of ruffled capri pants. I may have blogged about them. Yup -- I did, here. They were darned cute. But they didn't fit. Carrie was 1+ and I wasn't sure about the size. So I put the patterns away until this spring when she'd be a more definable size.
To the left is the "Gracie" dress. I bought the fabric for it last year and folded it and put it away. So now it is May and the Miscellany calls for me to make a dress or two from the Portobello Pixie patterns. I had a very good time gathering and pinning and adjusting gathers, and the skirt went together like a dream.
Then I undertook the bodice and what the pattern calls the yoke but looks more like a collar. Whatever. Moved right along until I came to a step for facing the yoke. Pattern directed me to the back of the book for directions on how to make a bias facing strip to match the yoke. The directions started out, "Begin with a yard of fabric." What? A yard of fabric? I didn't have a yard of fabric. I checked the back of the pattern envelope and, yes, I had bought the right amount to make the dress. Nowhere did it say on the pattern envelope that I would need a whole additional yard to make a 30-something inch of bias facing. I was displeased. To say the least. No way could I get another yard of this fabric, mid-dress. And, she asked rhetorically, what the heck would I do with the bazillion remaining yards of peach floral bias strip once I finished?
Snarl. I went down to the LQS and bought a package of good old bias tape and very carefully applied that to the yoke and finished the dress. The lady in the shop suggested I write to Portobello Pixie with my complaint, and I thought that was a good idea. I'll let you know if I ever hear back from them.
Meanwhile the dress is finished and I think it is kind of cute. I have fabric and pattern for another PP creation that is even cuter. But I'm a little fearful of what kind of surprises the pattern instructions might contain.
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