Summer Stitches

The whole month of June passed and I made not one bit of clothing.  It took me a little while to get my confidence up to start on another sewing project after Me-Made-May.  I didn’t want a failure, especially since I paid more than clearance price for my material.  After weeks and weeks of thinking about it, I finally did it.  And the results, well, I was happy with what resulted.  It only took me about a day and a half, a WHOLE day and a half, and two gos at the final hem, but having a dress made that I will wear was worth it.  Wait a minute, how many hours was that exactly?  Well, it was okay, I learned a few things in the process, like how to hem a very full skirt.

This is my July dress, my primrose polka dot dress, from the Butterick B5748 pattern.  I bought the pattern on ebay and I bought the material at a real material shop.  I had every intention on paying good money for the material too, but I happened to be shopping on the right day because the nice man at the register thought I should get a random 50% off, score!  So my full priced material wasn’t actually full price after all, and it was quality material which was a nice change from the discount table at Walmart.  My only complaint about the material is that it requires ironing.  As you can tell from the pictures, it is kinda wrinkly.

I followed the directions to a T.  I marked, double measured, googled, and youtubed all to have a dress come out the way the pattern intended.  No winging it with the parts of the pattern I didn’t really understand (understitching, now I know).  And you know what?  I am happy I did because my dress came out the way the pattern intended, imagine that!  There were only a few mistakes, but they were totally my own fault, had nothing to do with the pattern, and I am not going to be pointing them out, my guy knows all about them though.

Actually, I even ended up with two dresses for this month, both from the same pattern.  I started on practice, cheapy material just to make sure I would get it right.  I had no intentions on finishing the first try, but ended up hemming it, and now I just need to put a zipper in, just for the fun of it, and I think I am ending up liking it better than this one.  (Another outfit for another day!)

Lessons learned:  Follow the directions!  It makes all the difference even with the little tiny things because the little tiny things are what sometimes make the biggest difference.  And another thing, cotton material is way easier to work with than silky, polyester-ish, mystery material from the Walmart $1 table.  Also, measurements are a must.  Not the size I think I am, but the size the pattern says I am.  I have messed up on too many things thinking the pattern got the sizing wrong.  Not the case.

  blurry attempt at an action shot

It was much harder than I thought it would be to get a good picture of the dress.  The dreary, rainy day didn’t help either.  It really does fit better than the photos may show, and I am very pleased with how it came out.  When I did wear it, I added the black sash that belongs to one of my other polka dotted dresses.  (I may have too many of them, polka dots not sashes. ;-))

What do you think?  Should I give it another go with maybe a different, less wrinkly kind of material?  I am thinking I should…