I really like YouCanMakeThis.com. It’s a great place to find patterns from indie designers. And many of them have the added advantage of being from “self-taught” seamstresses and pattern designers who do things the practical, easy-to-follow way rather than the “right” (read: “unnecessarily complicated”) way, like the “Big 4.” [UPDATE: YouCanMakeThis.com no longer exists, but the pattern is still available and links have been updated to reflect the current source.]

This Sasha jumper (by Petite Kids Boutique) is the most recent YCMT pattern I’ve tried. I have to confess that it took me forever – but none of that was the pattern’s fault! It was just one thing after another: I couldn’t find the fabric I planned to use, then I found the fabric and got it all washed and cut out, only to find that I was out of thread…

The most recent roadblock was that I totally spazzed. I was making a jumper for my littlest one, from the remnants left over after cutting out skirts for my older girls. The pieces I had left over for the skirt were almost, but not quite large enough, so I fudged them to make it work. Except I forgot that the skirt is not gathered, it’s pleated, so my pleats, of course, came out all wrong. I hate pulling things out and redoing it (and the math to figure out how to make them work was making my head spin), so I put it off.

(And then I spazzed on the math and couldn’t seem to figure out what I was doing wrong.  Finally, I asked Michael for help and he had it sorted out right away.  Should’ve done that ages ago!)  If you just cut out your fabric to the sizes the pattern tells you to, you should not have this problem.

Overall, I found this pretty easy to follow. The instructions for the underarms could have been clearer. I followed them all right because I’ve made similar garments before, but a newbie might have a little trouble understanding what to do. Other than that, my only “complaint” is that I wish the skirt measurements were at the very beginning of the pattern, along with the pattern pieces, instead of way later after you have to read through a bunch of the directions.

There are lots of color pictures here, though, to take you step-by-step through the process. It’s not just a pattern; it’s a pattern + tutorial. And the resultant dress is pretty versatile, because it can be worn as-is during the warmer months, or as a jumper over a shirt for the cooler months. (It would be super-cute in a baby corduroy!)

The pattern covers sizes 12M to 8, so it’s a terrific value.

The instructions for the flower are included in the pattern.  I chose to attach mine to a pin, rather than directly to the dress, just to make laundering it a little easier.  And my buttons are covered using an Instructables tutorial for covering shank buttons.  (That is, they aren’t a kit.)

Disclosure: YouCanMakeThis.com provided the pattern for my review.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.