Spring Has Sprung!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I believe winter has overstayed its welcome. Now, I could just ask it to leave, but my mother raised me to be a gracious hostess. Instead, I'll busy myself with recreating sundresses, dropping not-so-subtle hints about how it's getting awfully late, and doesn't winter have a thing to get to in the morning? (Passive aggressive... Gracious and welcoming... They're pretty much the same thing, right?) I've busied myself with one of this year's spring and summer dresses. It's a bright floral print, and reminds me of something the Church Lady would wear if she felt like getting tarted up a bit.

Well isn't that special?

 I started by removing the sleeves and the collar. Since the dress was billowy up top, I chose to give my seam ripper a rest (it really needed it after last time) and just cut off the excess with my shears. Then I fiddled with the top until I figured out roughly how much fabric to cut away to make a halter-ish neckline.

Confession: I really don't know what I'm doing with this one.

At this point, I realized I didn't know what to do next. I wanted to finish the edges of the sides/arms, but wasn't sure how to go about it.  I thought about it for a while, and decided to try sewing some no-stretch lacy seam binding from my stash of weird and colorful notions. I pinned the lace to the right side of the edge, sewed it on, flipped in inside out, and then sewed the binding down...

When all else fails, wing it.

...And I didn't like it. I wasn't about to rip it all out. (I wasn't feeling very patient, but you probably knew that from my opening.) I dug back into my stash and found some teal single-fold bias tape that complemented the floral print. After playing around with the pleats in the front of the dress, I pressed the single-fold bias tape, making it double-fold. Then I pinned it to the top and the edges, and sewed everything in place by hand.

Why do I make things so much more difficult than they need to be?

I also added a few (crooked) darts to the back of the dress to remove some of the bulk. After the bias tape had been attached to the edges of the dress, I decided to make a floral accent from a portion of the remnants. I twisted a scrap of fabric into a tight tube, carefully wrapped it into a snail shape, and then sewed the coils together in the back. Much to my surprise, everything was coming together.

I love it when a plan comes together.

After a half dozen more tweaks and touch-ups, I think the dress is finally ready for this weekend. And I'm definitely ready for this weekend's rising temperatures! (Mid 60's!)

What would the Church Lady say about this scandalous dress?

I'll probably toss on a cardigan for church Sunday, but after that my shoulders will finally see sunlight! Through a layer of sunscreen, of course.

What are your weekend plans?

 - Elizabeth

   aka The Hungry Octopus

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