Butterick 5454 - Thanks Elizabeth!

Butterick 5454 is another dress that I saw on a blogger (Elizabeth of Sewn!)  And thought - Oh, I love that dress and I have a ton of dress lengths of knits - wonder if I can wear that. 

The weekend before retreat I had run to Hancocks to looks for some ponte knits and came home with 2 knits.  They both took a trip through the washer and dryer and then one of them got cut out as 'fake fabric' for the Butterick dress.

Just like the other dress - I worked on faith.  I made very few adjustments  mostly to the back .  I adjusted the sleeves to be short.  These days I prefer short sleeves or sleeveless - because honestly - long sleeves are just too hot.  I raised the front by half and inch.  And I cut the skirt at the biggest size on the pattern - trusting the finished garment measurements printed on it that it would in fact fit my hips without adding more room.   Oh - but I did add length - 6 inches!

This is such a quick dress to make and I sewed it completely on my sewing machine!  Yes - it would have been much, much quicker with the serger and maybe on the 3rd version I'll use the serger. 

After sewing it up - the only changes I had to make were to unpick the back pleats in the skirt by an inch and half - they weren't falling nicely and needed to be shortened.

I think because of how I raised the front neckline, the hem didn't fall evenly at the bottom and I had to have a friend mark the hem - which is why the border print isn't hemmed yet.  I'm going to attempt to figure that out on version #3 - because there will be many, many more.

This dress was comfortable and easy to wear.  It stays overlapped with no fear of anything horrible happening - even when the wind blows. 

One of the best parts of sew camp?  Besides coming home with 2 patterns I feel comfortable sewing over and over?  I gained confidence in my skills and came home feeling pretty and not nearly as big as I thought I was!  Win / Win / Win! 

McCalls 6503

 First - I have no idea who the average is for dresses these days.  I added 2" to the skirt when I cut this out, but it still wasn't enough. 

The first version of this dress is what I think Karen of Did You Make That? would call an 'ickle' print - or rather childish.  But I wanted what I've started calling 'fake fabric*' in case my alterations didn't work out. 

The only alterations I made to the pattern tissue was to shorten the back for both my sway back and my very short back waist.  What I didn't do was shorten the front so the side seams matched.  I thought I could create a fake full bust adjustment by just gathering the extra front into the side seams.  It worked ok - but it's not perfect, there is a bunch of extra fabric under my arms at the side seams.  I have adjusted that and have the next fabric ready to roll (or be cut).

I like this version - but I think it's a bit boring.   I've dubbed it the prison matron dress - but seeing the photos -  it's not nearly that bad.  I've bought some lovely, tiny white tatted trim to put around the collar and will add it to the hem - maybe.  Will have to take a look at it.

As I said earlier - I added 2 inches to the skirt when I cut it out.  but that wasn't enough. To hem this version, I cut a 3 1/2" band, folded it in half and added it to the bottom.  It's just about the perfect length.

I wore this most of the day with a white cardigan.  The sleeves look tight, but they are not and there was plenty of room to move.   I was quite surprised by how well the pleated skirt laid over both my belly and my rear. 

The best part of sew camp?  Coming home feeling cute and not nearly as fat as I thought I was!

*Fake fabric - something old from the cupboard that would be alright to wear, but if it didn't work out wouldn't hurt my feelings at all.  This time it worked out!

Still No Dresses

How about some old business for Dogs on Thursday and Thankful Friday?

The Princess gave JB these lovely dog themed beer signs when we went to visit her in May.  What?  You didn't know we were in Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island back in May.  Oh dear.

Bloodhound Brew
Beer So Good It'll Make You Drool
100% Howl-Ahol 



Headstrong Hound
Beer & Biscuit
"All Hail the Scented Trail
That Leads Us to a Pint of Ale"

I do love them and need to find a place and a way to add them to my decor. 

Now if you want the true take on retreat - or sew camp - click over to my friend Maris' blog and read her post all about it.  You can even see Wendy wearing the border print dress from the other days' post.

Thankfuls :: good friends who act as shrinks and help you work through body image issues :: having my own yarn shop in the basement :: new recipes that work :: Fall and the changing of the leaves - yes it happens here too :: healthy dogs :: kids who grew into responsible adults :: instagram :: good books::

What are you thankful this week?