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.