Eos - Takes 1 and 2

I've been wanting to make the Eos Dress & Blouse since I first saw it previewed.  Finally got around to it...twice...  Explanation forthcoming, but first - I present my second Eos blouse!

Adorable, right??  Even better on...

The bow totally sells it, but the pin tucks on the front are such a sweet detail.  I wasn't sure how they'd work with this eyelet, but they weren't a problem.  Actually, this fabric holds creases really well so they were even easier on this top than the first one I made.  The only change I made to the pattern was to pleat the sleeves instead of gathering them.  I like the link between the tucks at the front and the pleats in the sleeve.  Plus gathering sucks...so there's that.

Now for why I made two...and why I'm showing you the second.  According to the measurement chart, my daughter should be wearing the 2/3.  She wears a 2 in store-bought clothing but I was skeptical because I think I've only ever once before made a pattern in her actual size - always at least one if not two sizes smaller. But she was pretty much an exact match for the 2/3 chest measurement so I went for it.  I'm sure by now you realize that I shouldn't have been lazy about fittings, but I was.  Now I have a lovely top sitting in her closet waiting for next year.  As you can see in the picture above the 18m size (the smallest for the pattern - I made it 2/3 length) is still a little wide, but it's not falling off her so I'll take it.  A shoulder width measurement on the chart would have been really helpful on this pattern, I think.

Here's my first, just 'cause I love it so:

The other problem I ran into with this first version was with the bow.  The construction instructions for the bow start out with separate instructions for handling a single sided or a double sided fabric, but then just sort of left you hanging on the double sided halfway through so I had to work it out for myself.  For the second I used some crazy sheer crepey fabric that was a pain to work with, and probably could have been used in a single layer, but I doubled it up and it worked out just fine.

It's hard for me to publicly critique a pattern - especially one that I really do love - but I wanted to be honest and give a couple hints so that, if you want to try this pattern out as well, you can tackle from an educated starting point.  I really do love this design and look forward to making more in the future.