Nothing like spending a Saturday night sewing with a bunch of older ladies. Actually, that’s not true. My work/mommy friend (who’s my exact same age) was also there, but we were clearly bringing the average participant age down considerably.
I brought my latest WIP with me – Simplicity 2215. I was able to cut the pattern and fabric prior to showing up. Here’s pretty much what I did during my 5+ hours:
- ate lots o’ food
- gossiped about other co-workers (shh!)
- marked my pattern
- ate more food
- sewed up the bodice (lining and main fabric)
- pleated the skirt front and back
- attached pockets
- ate more food
- sewed bodice and skirt together
Thanks to my lovely sister, Carol, I was able to have these hours to do all of that. Thanks sis for hanging out with my kid!
I love this dress! It is just super cute. And the fabric worked out nicely. I bought it awhile ago at Fabric.com and it has been sitting in my stash for awhile. Its a yarn-dyed shirting, poly/cotton blend; its nice that there is no “wrong” side of the fabric. Its fairly sheer, but the pattern calls for a lining in the bodice. I’d have attached one anyway given the see-throughness of the fabric. After much consideration of my current fabric stash and potential JoAnn’s trip, I ended up using bleached cotton muslin. I have about 9 yards of the stuff. JoAnn’s had a sale on Simplicity patterns ($1.99!) and this dress seemed a good fit for the plaid. Matching the plaids didn’t really require too much extra thought in pattern piece layout and cutting; the pleats helped with that.
And the pleats! Oh, I love how asymmetrical they are – some go this way, some go that way. Different widths.
The ladies at Open Sew are primarily quilters. There was one other garment sewer who was making a knit top. My work/mommy friend did both – binded a quilt and began work on dresses for her daughter. I got some nice comments from the ladies – a few seemed impressed that I was 1. making a dress and 2. using plaid!
When I got home, showing off my progress, sister and I got excited about pockets. I mean, who doesn’t love a dress with pockets. That’s when I realized I had attached them UPSIDE DOWN.
Dammit.
