Colombine | A year-round favorite

Fall has been kind for us and we’ve been spoiled with warm days and gentle nights. Nonetheless, slowly, our winters clothes will be making their debut and, soon enough, warm coats and cozy knitted wool cardigans will come out of our closets.In the meanwhile, I’ve been busy renewing my girl’s closet with pretty handmades ❤

As much as I complain when last season clothes don’t fit her anymore, I actually love sewing her new ones. Soon she won’t grow as fast (and won’t love me sewing for her as much), so I know I should fully enjoy these precious moments. She’s obviously more bold than I am when picking fabrics and patterns, but we still manage to reach an agreement 🙂

The Colombine pattern from Papillon & Mandarine has been a favorite of mine for quite a few years – my first version was a size 4 and now I’m sewing her a size 10!. Still, we both love it as it’s one of the first patterns I pick when sewing for a new season.

I made her a dress version,adding the optional ruffles (free download, in French only) with one of her favorite prints for the new season – it’s a beautiful light grey cotton viyella with slightly darker grey stars (from Ratucos). This season, I’ve already seen it in several store-bought stores, so I’m guessing it will be quite trendy 😉

It’s a simple dress that I know she’ll wear often – the neutral color will be great canvas for accessorizing with other colors. For this session, she wore it with deep red accessories (hair bow, shoes and socks), but I also love it with mustard and turquoise (and so many more).

For the moment, she has put on hold her “no dress” policy and dresses are, again, allowed in her in closet. Obviously, I couldn’t be happier – there’s still quite an handful of dresses in my wishing list ….

Using the same pattern and a slightly lighter viyella (also from here), I also made her a blouse version – this time with the side ties and I omitted the ruffles.

The colors are soft and perfect for combining with jeans or winter shorts. Once again, this blouse also got her seal of approval.

I have raved before about how much I love this pattern. Still, I didn’t expect to still love it after sewing it over and over again. Yet, we both do!!

It’s a great design for both all ages and it can be used for every season.

By now, I obviously know the instructions by heart and most of my versions actually don’t even make it to this blog – they are often worn as soon as they’re finished and I never get a chance to proper document them.

For instance, this wonderful winter version with lace trim that got lots of compliments during last winter. I gave up trying to get pictures of it as she insisted on holding an empty glass all the time …

Or this sleeveless summery version, that she worn all summer (even when it was already too short) with both the side ties and the ruffles …

While, it’s been quite a learning curve to see what I can incorporate in her closet, it’s always a pleasure to see a pattern reinvented every season!

Happy sewing,

XX Ana Sofia

Technical info

Pattern: Colombine dress and blouse pattern from Papillon et Mandarine | paper pattern (English and French) 

Sizes made: size 8 (last season) and 10 (pattern sizes range from 2 to 10 years)

Difficulty level: Easy/Beginner

Fabrics used: All fabrics (Cotton and Viyella) from Ratucos