Pattern Review: Playground to Palace Dress

Halloween is fast approaching and I have been sewing like mad on my children's costumes hoping to not be doing anything at the last minute this year.  But instead of staying focused and on task, I jumped at a chance to test a new pattern by Ruby and Jack.  I actually had never heard of this pattern maker before, but on a sewing group I answered the tester call because the description of the pattern sounded great.

It was billed as a princess dress as comfy as a tee-shirt.  Well, what tween does not live in tee-shirts?

So I paused on my projects stacking up on the table and set out to test a pattern for a knit princess dress.

Fittingly, the bodice has princess lines and the skirt is a cross between a gored skirt and circle skirt. The skirt can actually be made with knit or with a woven but the woven requires extra fabric and is gathered.

I searched my stash and found the fanciest knit I had and managed to just squeak by without having to purchase more.  I very much enjoyed sewing this dress.  Even in it's testing form, it was an easy sew and the adjustments she made after our feedback really make it a fun pattern.

The dress is called the Playground to Palace Dress because it is a comfortable way to dress up.  If you have little ones that dress up, this would be a great dress for them too because it can be just pulled over regular clothes.  But, for a tween, it can easily be adapted for many a version of princess costume.

Sizes available:  It comes in sizes 12 months to 12 years and I found it ran very true to my child's measurements.

Special materials required:  The simplest version of the pattern requires knit fabric.  But there are versions for organza over lays, a cape, or a sash similar to the Cinderella dress of the new  movie.

Here are some photos of other versions:

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Skill level required:  I thought this dress was super easy.  It does not have any closures and has no fancy techniques.  If you are new to knits, this may be a good starter pattern.

Good:  I liked how I could make a costume with this pattern or simply a lovely dress.  I think the princess lines were quite beautiful on my daughter.

Bad:  Because it is meant to be primarily for dress up, you may get limited use out of the pattern.  Some our our tweens are quickly leaving the princess phase.

Overall pattern rating:  As a costume or special occasion dress, I would give this pattern 4 bolts.  But as tween focused pattern, I may drop it down to 3.5.  I don't think that is truly fair because not all tweens are out of the princess phase but if you don't have younger girls to sew for, I can't help but think this pattern may be limited for some audiences.  

Until the 10th of October, 2015 it is on sale for only $5!