Rockin' the Aurora

You know that feeling when your kid develops an affinity for something FIVE MINUTES after the opportunity to buy it expires? That's what happened to me with little A and some Jojo fabric. One of my favorite sites ran a preorder, and I counted myself lucky that this print wasn't relevant to me and bought some other pretties instead; then like 3 days after the round closed, my daughter dicovered the singer and within a week she was bugging me for a "Jojo" dress. Aargh. Fortunately, a couple of months later someone in a destash had extra they didn't need, so I was able to acquire "one yard with tail."

Having learned from past experience, I also did a line drawing of some of the patterns I was considering purchasing, so that my daughter could pick the silhouette/neckline she preferred.

Given my lack of drawing prowess (and Jojo's affinity for bows), I was a little surprised she chose the Stitch Upon A Time Aurora, but hey: I was pretty excited to try it. I think she might get her love of interesting strap configurations from me.

In terms of the PDF pattern companies I have worked with, I felt Stitch Upon a Time was solidly middle-of-the-pack. The pattern pieces went together fine, and the tutorial has some small ambiguities, but nothing I couldn't figure out by double-checking the pictures after a more careful reading. The dress turned out lovely.

I did have some trouble getting the straps not to be lumpy in the back - possibly in part because I was using custom-weight fabric, but also because getting stretch fabric not to shift as you sew over it is easier said than done. That is a minor annoyance though: overall this dress is *definitely* a make-again.

Little A loves it - for the 4th of July she declared it her "fireworks dress," and it's just as gorgeous as the Solis but with less of a time investment. Operating on a time crunch as I was (I'm assuming Jojo is pretty "of the moment"... feel free to come back and mock me in 2 years if she's the next Madonna or Britney Spears), I am sad to report I totally forgot my signature pockets.

But A doesn't seem to mind - she just loves the colors and the theme, and who *doesn't* want to feel like a rockstar in a mom-made dress?

Sing it, kid :-)