Easter Dress

Because I don't have enough projects in the queue, this past Monday morning (as in two Mondays before Easter - 3/22/2010), I wake up knowing that I want a new dress for Easter. The last time I had this thought was about 11 years ago, and I went to seven stores looking for something pretty that would fit me and not make me look like the mother of the bride. I ended up sewing a couple of dresses for myself, and other than trousers from TravelSmith and shirts from second-hand stores, most of my clothes have come from my sewing room.

So, I had to pick a pattern (something fairly simple and quick to make). I ended up choosing Simplicity 7220, and I decided to make the dress on the right with the sleeves from the blouse in the middle.

This involved a little redrawing of the bodice pieces of the dress, and because I'm too lazy to make a muslin first, I've just plunged in and cut all of the pieces and figured I would fudge my way out of any difficulties....

Oh, and then I had to pick the fabric. So, I've had this pink fabric forever. I truly don't remember how it came into my life. I am guessing that it is a cotton/poly blend, and it's rather thin. So, I'm using a double layer of it (and pinning like mad during the cutting and sewing phase!).

Then, I got to thinking about that vast expanse of PINK and had various visions of bad jokes. So, I found the pattern on the right in my stash. I've made the shirt in the upper right corner with happy results. I noticed the vest in the lower right, and it just has three pieces (two fronts and a back)! This meant I could use the pretty floral fabric to tone down the pink dress. The floral fabric has some strong vertical lines and lots of blank space. That will visually slim my appearance. I'll use some of the scraps to trim the sleeve hemlines, the dress hemline, and the neckline of the dress. It'll look like an "outfit" without screaming about it. I hope to show pictures early next week of a completed outfit.

Because I can't always be in the sewing room in the evenings, I am working on this scarf:

It is the Argosy pattern found at Knitty.com. I've been working on it about a week and have finally (mostly) memorized the pattern.

Until next time, toodles!