Done!

I've spent the last several days working on the finishing for the plaid dress. I decided to only put the bias trim on the neckline and hand sew all the hems at the sleeves and the bottom edge. I think this dress out pretty true to the original pattern, though I did make some modifications: shortened the length by four and a half inches and took in almost an inch on the side seams. It fits me pretty well, though in retrospect, I think I should have added two back darts instead of taking in the extra width at the side seams. I thought the addition of darts would have made the dress more fitted than I wanted. Oh well, I still like it anyway!

Weekend Update

After finishing the fez on Friday night, I finally starting working on the wool dress. I think I was procrastinating because I didn't want to deal with both the lining and the dress, but once I got started it all went quickly. I sewed the lining together first and then proceeded with the dress. The thing that took the most time was the inseam pockets. The original pattern does not have a lining, so I had to figure out how to situate the pockets with it and the dress. I had the pockets sewn into the lining, but was not happy with how they looked after topstitching the edges of the pockets to the dress. It was a little messy and the edges weren't too clean. So, I scrapped the pockets and ripped them out. I'm still thinking about maybe adding some patch pockets to the front, but I'm not sure. I've still got to sew in the bias trim on the neckline and hem the sleeves and the bottom edge. I was thinking about adding bias trim to those edges as well.

Dizzy

I knit up this hat on Saturday from a free Berroco pattern. I used the leftover Elsebeth Lavold ClassicAL that I had from the Rebecca striped sweater. I lightly steam blocked the hat to even out the stitches and it was good to go. I've already worn it several times.

I also finally managed to get my fabric cut out for the Machiko plaid wool dress. I think I was hesitant to actually do this because of matching the plaid on the side seams and the back, but it didn't take too terribly long. I'll start sewing tonight!

Mad About Plaid

I stopped by Fabric Depot this weekend to search for some plaid wool. I found this grey plaid and chose an olive green lining. I knew I wanted to make a dress, but wasn't sure of the pattern. I found Simplicity pattern 3620, but they were out of my size. I really liked the cute V-neck jumper with the belt and pockets. After looking through some more patterns at home, I decided on this Machiko Kayaki short-sleeved dress from Sewing Talk. It's a simple four-piece pattern and the dress has inset seam pockets and raglan sleeves. I've had some fit issues with these Machiko patterns in the past, so I made the dress out of muslin to check the fit. It fit great but I took in about three-eighths of an inch on both sides of the back and shortened it about four and a half inches. I just altered my paper pattern and will cut out fabric tomorrow.