2+2 Pleated Skirt and Blouse Review

We’ve been absent this week because we’ve been busy sewing for Kids Clothes Week!  You’ll see by the last 2 photos in this post, we’ve cranked out 6 items of clothing!  (Actually 7 counting Monday’s Monet Dress!)  But let’s start with the Oliver+S 2+2 skirt and blouse.

The fourth skirt we made in the All The Skirts: Oliver+S and Fat Quarter Shop series is the 2+2 Pleated Skirt and Blouse.  This versatile little skirt perfectly swishes through it’s territory.  A simple, yet professional skirt, the fit and look of the 2+2 skirt will be worn over and over and over again!

One thing we didn’t notice until we made the skirt is that the pleats are directionally pointed toward the center of the skirt instead of facing the same way around the whole skirt.  A subtle, but oh so cute detail.

We gave a sneak peek on Instagram of the perfect button we found in our stash to complete the 2+2 skirt.  We sewed the size 5 width with the size 8 length. This seems to be pretty standard so far for Annie on the Oliver + S skirts.

We used the Cotton and Steel Playful Aqua Jacks fabric from Fat Quarter Shop to make this skirt.  It’s soft, yet holds the pleats very well. Seriously the most fun fabric ever, and another winner from Cotton and Steel!

The 2+2 blouse really, really steals the show on this little outfit!  The darling little patch and neck binding that ends in the ties opens up so many possibilities for this blouse!

We used Cotton + Steel Basics in Plummy XOXO for the main fabric, and more of the Playful Aqua Jacks for the contrast fabric.  We may or may not already have another fabric combination picked out for the 2+2 blouse!

This blouse buttons up the back.  We decided to use the buttons as an opportunity to add another fun pop of color to the 2+2 blouse.  The gold buttons match one of the jack colors perfectly.

We used the same gold/yellow/mustard color of the buttons and jacks to make another Aster Cardigan.  This is the same combination we used for the Music Class Blouse and Skirt, an Oliver + S pattern and an Aster Cardigan!  But this time we changed it up a little by having a collar on the Aster and none on the Oliver + S blouse.

This beautiful fabric came from Imagine Gnats and is the new lovely Art Gallery Fabrics knit solids.  It is just as soft and pill-free and nice to work with as the Art Gallery knit prints.  The large yellow button is left over from the vest refashion of another All The Skirts outfit.

We’ve been seeing sneak peeks of the STYLO 4 magazine that is due out in May, and they are really, really fun and bright and playful!  So when we saw the contest Upcraft Club is holding, with the winning prize a chance to be in the next STYLO magazine, we just HAD to enter!  So we chose to enter this outfit and a sewed up a matching boy outfit, too.

We’ll have a complete review of the fabric and patterns in his outfit next week, but here are the details of his outfit:

Dress Shirt:

Pattern: Ethan Shirt by Sis Boom patterns
Fabric: Robert Kaufman Chambray Union  and Playful Aqua Jacks

T-shirt:

Pattern: Oliver + S Field Trip Raglan
Fabric: Art Gallery Fabrics Sahara Sun &  White Knit 

Pants:

Pattern: Oliver + S Field Trip Cargos
Fabric: 2 pairs of Daddy’s khakis, refashioned

And the summary of her outfit:

Sweater:

Pattern: Willow & Co. Aster Cardigan
Fabric: Art Gallery Fabrics Sahara Sun

Blouse:

Pattern: Oliver + S 2+2 Blouse and Skirt
Fabric: Cotton + Steel Basics Plummy XOXO & Playful Aqua Jacks

Skirt:

Pattern: Oliver+S 2+2 Blouse and Skirts
Fabric: Playful Aqua Jacks

Here’s one more photo to hold you over till next week…