This year's birthday dress is no exception.
This year - after making 2 version of the Appleton dress as tester versions and another (which still hasn't been blogged - but has been really this years) that I like but don't love, I was determined to make an appleton that I love! And I did it with this one.
The fabric is from Fabric Mart and the recent all the florals kick I went on this summer. The fabric is a navy ITY with pink and white flowers all over it!
This time I read the instructions! DOH! All previous versions of this dress that I didn't love Are.My.OWN.Fault! I am an idiot - who often thinks she knows what she's doing when in fact she doesn't have a clue.
The first three (THREE!!) versions of this dress where made with ponte fabrics. They weren't super stable pontes, but they didn't have the stretch the pattern required. Then, I sewed them up with 1/2" seams! Reading Comprehension Starts with Reading!! Um - yea, so firmer fabric and larger seams will result in a dress that it's a bit closer fitting than I like - but good results for Krystle! This time, I took a step back, read the instructions, remeasured myself, retraced the dress and sewed with the correct seam allowances (they are 3/8 by the way).
My birthday was on a Thursday this year. The dress was cut out on Sunday night, but I ran out of time to sew. So, Monday after dinner, I headed downstairs. All I managed to accomplish in an hour was to clean and thread the sewing machine and serger, put in new needles, wind a bobbin, test thread and stitches, finish the front skirt edges and sew the shoulder seams. Didn't feel like much.
On Tuesday, I went downstairs after dinner and set up again. This time I set the sleeves in and sewed up the side seams. I also got the bands put together.By Wednesday it had to get finished. I stitched, turned and attached the ties, put the facing on, sewed up the side seams, and hemmed the sleeves and hem.
As you can see - the dress still doesn't fit perfectly - but it's good enough and I love it! I have since retraced the dress from the arms down removing the grading between sizes that I did unnecessarily.
I feel comfortable in this dress and have worn it with my pale pink shoes a couple of times since my birthday already!
The moral of this story? Start by reading and don't give up!
