May Miscellany Continues (And There's Still A Week To Go!)

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.