OAL 2015: Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes Dress and White Sunshower Cardigan

*Warning - I fully believe that the size of the post/number of pictures included should be proportional to the size of the project. This is two projects in one. You have been warned.*

I almost can't believe it myself, but it is true ... I managed to finish my entry for the Outfit Along by the deadline! Sure, I posted my pictures on the final day, but hey that still counts, lol. So... this is my outfit.

Obligatory front and back shots.

The Outfit Along was hosted by Andi Satterlund and Lauren of Lladybird, and it involved making a dress and a sweater to be worn together (an "outfit" if you will) over a 2 month period. You could choose any patterns, you just had to make an "outfit" that involved knitting and sewing and have it submitted by July 31st. I ran into a few snags with my first choice, causing me to find myself a month into the challenge with no sweater started. I raided my stash, and picked a newly released pattern by Andi for my sweater and got to work. This means I managed to finish this whole outfit in less than 1 month!

Realistically I will wear this sweater open most of the time.

My timeline was pretty tight for a person who works full time and has lots of other obligations that take her time. Mostly I was only able to knit on the weekends, with a few weeknights in the beginning. Happily, this pattern is deceptively simple and I've already made several of Andi's patterns (meaning I know how to make them fit me), so I was able to knit it quickly with no fuss.

So, let's talk about the dress first :)

This dress has been floating in my brain for quite a while. I picked up 3 yards of this ridiculous...ly awesome fabric at The Sewing Studio's mega sale in July of 2014. The fabric was a bit of a splurge for me, but it was just so ludicrous I had to get some. I was really inspired by the dress that Sewing Pies made out of this fabric for the first year of Sew Dolly Clackett, and I had to be part of the club. The Birds Doing Dishes Club. This fabric is called Don't Let The Bird Do The Dishes and is by Michael Miller Fabrics. It's a quilting cotton, but it's worth using solely for its print.

To make my crazy bird dress dreams a reality, I reached for what has become a tried and true pattern of mine - Simplicity 1419. The entire dress is from this pattern, but I decided to switch things up this time (this is my 3rd iteration) and use the scoop neckline from Simplicity 1873 in hopes that it would make the dress a bit cooler for the insane Florida summer I'm currently living through. Ugh.

There's a bird nesting on my boob!

I'm honestly thrilled by how this dress turned out - certainly my best version so far from this pattern in regard to both fit and attention to detail. I did make one hiccup though ... I made the pleats go the wrong direction, which means that center box pleat section above my torso hugs my tummy a bit more in the front than I would like. I didn't realize this until everything was sewn together and the seams finished, so I was not about to rip it out. It's still a full skirt, so it doesn't really bother me.

I did my usual construction with this dress - finished the insides with pinking sheers, top stitched hem, side seam pockets, etc. I did take quite a bit of care with the pattern placement and lining up on this dress. I didn't have enough fabric to match such a large scale print completely, but I made sure that the purple swagged dish drying lines were lined up at the side seams as well as across the sleeves. I also took care not to have a "bird headlights situation" across the front bodice - instead I just picked a bird that I liked that was usable given my fabric constraints and made him a bit off center. Due to the scale of the print, he's kind of the main bird you see at first.

To a more experienced seamstress, this will sound silly, but it makes me feel so accomplished - ALL my seams and darts line up perfectly. I had to make a lot of changes to the pattern to get it fitting me, which left me with side seems and darts that did not line up with each other. Each dress I've made has been out of a crazy novelty print, so no one has ever noticed but it really bugs me every time I think about it. This time I was determined to lined everything up, and I am so happy that it worked out. I had to document this achievement by taking pictures of each seam, lol. The photo on the bottom left is my waist seam at the zipper - oh yeah!

Speaking of the zipper, it took a few tries this time with get thing things lined up properly, but all that ripping out paid off in the end. I used a 22" invisible zipper with a white pull and it really is invisible :) Funny how that's always thrilling, huh? I finished the top with a hook and eye as per usual.

I love how clean my insides turned out even though I only finished things off with pinking sheers.

I also decided to leave off the facing (again) and use bias tape on the neckline. I really just hate facings in clothing - they itch and never want to stay where they should on me. The bias tape gives me a clean finish with nothing tickling my chest as I wear the finished product. The bias tape was a pre-made pack I picked up at a thrift store for 25 cents who knows when.

I love so much about how this dress turned out - definitely a winner for me. I know this will be another great conversation starter piece ... once the weather cools down enough to not want to rip it off after an hour. We are heading into the "ugly hot" time of year here, and it is so muggy and humid that I don't even want to think about it. Anyway, this dress will get a lot of wear in the fall and winter.

Now onto the sweater :) I went with Andi's new pattern, Sunshower from her Quiet Days collection for Knit Picks. It's designed with negative ease to give a fitted look, and it has an all-over lace body. I did my usual fitting equation for this sweater (Large bust and sleeves, XLarge waist) and it worked a treat. I love that her patterns are so easy to meld sizes with - I just did fewer decreases at the waist so that I ended up with the number of stitches for the XL size. No fancy math required :)

I think my favorite part of this sweater is the lacy detail along the bottom hem - sometimes it looks like hearts, other times it looks like leaves - either way it't really pretty :) The all over lace design is incredibly easy to do and was quick to memorize. I ended up using 3.3 skeins (685 yards) of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow from my stash for this sweater that I've had in my stash since January (and I got a sweet deal on it, which is even better). I'm hoping that the cotton yarn and lacy design will help this sweater not be too warm for Florida. We shall see :)

The side of the body and underside of the sleeve have 4 rows of straight stitches that hold the decreases, and I love how pretty and uniform this makes the whole side look. I also made the sweater several repeats longer in the waist since I have a long torso and I wanted it to hit at my actual waist.

I chose some pretty white plastic rose-shaped buttons from my stash because I thought they went well with the overall girly theme of the lace and possibly leaf design along the bottom. The button band was the only section of the pattern that had any issues - I had to change the spacing of the button holes to get the top button at the V point in the knitting. This wasn't a difficult change, but it's worth noting if anyone else runs into the same issue. I put 12 stitches between each button hole, just for the record.

And now onto one of my favorite parts of this sweater ... the button bands! These came out so pretty that I seriously want to rip this baby open and show them off to everyone. Or wear the sweater inside out just so they can be fully appreciated, lol.

I followed Lauren's tutorial on how to back the bands with Petersham ribbon. I've used this method once before (on my Minty Miette cardigan), but my efforts were foiled by crappy ribbon. I had no idea that there were different qualities of ribbon back then, but it makes sense now - ribbon is just like fabric in that it's made of natural and synthetic materials. This time around, I hunted high and low locally for real rayon Petersham ribbon, but no one had any that I could find. I turned to the internet and was rescued by Britex Fabrics of all places. There prices seemed just like buying the cheapy ribbon at Joann's to be honest, and this was the real deal. I was ecstatic! To make the most of the shipping cost, I bought enough ribbon for all the cardi's I've previously made as well as this one. My non-gaping button dreams can now be realized! Anyway, if you have ever wondered about trying out this technique, DO IT! I'm really amazed at how pretty this looks inside, and the rayon is nice and smooth to the touch. I machines stitched my button holes (without interfacing the ribbon), secured all the holes and the ribbon ends with fray check, and hand sewed the ribbons in place. This took a few hours to accomplish completely, but it's so worth the time to not look like I'm busting out of my sweater since it's a fitted style. Petersham button bands forever!

So, if you can't tell yet, I am totally thrilled that not only I was able to finish such a large project by the deadline in spite of various difficulties and time-sucking real life duties, but also that I have such a cute outfit added to my closet! Let's just be real - a white cardigan goes with everything, so I know I will get a ton of use out of this piece, and the dress is a long time plan come to fruition. Thanks so much to Andi and Lauren for hosting this knit/sew along. I tried to participate the first time, but life got in the way, so I'm really proud I was able to get it all done. I can't wait to make another awesome outfit next year!

Dress Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Don't Let the Bird Do the Dishes quilting cotton by Michael Miller Fabrics - $18.50
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 1873 neckline
Notions: 22" white invisible zipper - $1.50, light blue bias tape - thrifted $0.25, hook and eye - stash (free)
Hours: 10
Total Cost: $20.25

Sweater Summary:
Yarn: 4.31 skeins of Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Marshmallow - $16.00
Pattern: Sunshower Cardigan by Andi Satterlund, $2.00
Notions: 4 Buttons from Joann's - $2.20, Rayon Petersham Ribbon from Britex Fabrics - $2.25
Time to Make: 1 month
Total Cost: $22.45

FO: Take A Seat Dress

This is an epic project - I actually used one of my "love it too much to risk messing it up" fabrics from my stash! And I LOVE IT!

I purchased this fabric last 4th of July from Fabric.com in the sale they had that weekend. The fabric is called Perfectly Perched Chairs in Steel designed by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman. This line had several designs featuring chairs, but I liked this one best due to the colors - steel gray, white, and bright turquoise. I bought 3 yards with no specific pattern in mind, just knowing I wanted a simple dress. Then it sat... and waited... I didn't want to just chop into this awesomeness without knowing I would like the results, you know? I mean, those chairs needed their day to shine! I started off thinking Simplicity 2444 would work, but I didn't want to break up the lines of chairs with the angled bust darts on that pattern. So, I raided the pattern stash for a bodice with more simple, straight darts that could be used for all my lined novelty prints (seriously, I seem to be unknowingly drawn to lines and geometric patterns that need pattern matching - it's a dilemma). Simplicity 1419 seemed to be just the ticket, plus it had the fun option of the keyhole neckline and peter pan collar. So I muslined the daylights out of that pattern, and made my Skewed Flowers Dress first. Once I worked out my little kinks, I decided to take the plunge!

Now, I did make a few changes from my Skewed Flowers dress - most obviously the neckline. I love the keyhole and collar the pattern includes, but I think a cutesy collar on a dress covered in bright colored chairs would be a bit much. Just a personal judgement there. I actually just traced the Simplicity 2444 neckline onto my traced 1419 pattern piece - quick and easy change. I also really didn't want to have to figure out drafting a facing, plus I've had a problem with my dresses standing away from my back more than I like and I'm pretty sure it's due to the stiffness of the interfaced facing back there. This time, I decided to try bias tape on the neckline. I will admit it was a bit fiddly since I only had double fold bias tape on hand (and I was in to much a "quick satisfaction" mood to make any), but I made it there in the end. It's actually much easier than following all the directions for a traditional facing, plus I hate that facings always want to pop out, so I will certainly be employing the bias tape method on future makes :)

As you can see form the side view, I still have a bit too much fabric at the upper back. It drives me nuts. I hate that can't reach back there to pin everything in place just right, you know? My hunchback needs some assistance. Oh well - I'm going to look up how to address this before my next make. The back view ... I'm almost ashamed to show you because it shows the problem with the other change I made to the pattern. Honestly, the dress it too tight. I've worn it out now, and it did stretch out a bit so that it was more comfortable, but it tends to look a bit sausage-like in the back unless I'm standing just right (clearly I'm not standing just right in this photo). I also had just washed the dress and ironed it before taking these photos, so trust me it isn't always this tight. But good grief the zipper is actually stuck in a wonky position halfway down my back... and you can see the white line of the "invisible" zipper. Ugh. Maybe I'll lose weight someday, lol, just for this dress. My invisible zipper does look very good other than the tightness issue. The thing I changed was that last time around I had to add a tiny extra pleat to the front skirt to make my pieces match the bodice after all the alterations I had made, so this time I just figured I could cut the next size down in the skirt - apparently this was not a wise decision.

Not a lot of hanger-appeal to my dresses, lol.I think you can see the effort I made with pattern matching though. I knew I didn't have enough fabric to even try a seamless match up of the pattern, but I wanted to make sure the lines of chairs were consistent, and I paid particular attention to make the center front waist seam on the gray areas between the chairs. I think it came out really well :) This is my first official time pattern matching, so I'm pleased.

Close ups: I decided to use some chartreuse colored bias tape from my stash (left over from this Sorbetto) at the neckline just for fun. I love a little hidden pop of color and you don't see it from the outside at all. I followed the suggestion of a reader on my zipper and placed the top of the zipper tape just down from the seam edge - this caused a definite need for a hook and eye, but the zipper doesn't seem to make the dress want to pull away more, so that's a win :) My waistline seam is just ever so slightly off at the zipper, but it was so close that I couldn't be bothered to rip it out and try again. Also, my darts still don't line up from the bodice to skirt on the front due to all the changes I had to make to the pattern. One of these days I'll figure that one out.

Now for the other icky mistake - that picture above shows my side seam. Yeah, it totally doesn't line up from the bodice to the skirt. More than that, it's almost a full inch off! This is another issue I had from cutting the smaller skirt, so I will certainly not do that next time. When I ear the dress though, the print is so busy that no one has noticed this little flaw, plus let's be real I don't usually walk around waving my arms in the air, so I'm not that worried about it. It's just being documented for internet shaming purposes *sigh*.

So there you have it :) A new dress that I absolutely adore in spite of its issues. Seriously, how awesome is this fabric?! I just love it, and I know it will get lots of wear. Even The Gordo had to photobomb me so he could be seen near this dress, lol. Don't let that corgi smirk fool you. He loves the dress too.

Summary:
Fabric: 3 yards of Perfectly Perched Chairs fabric in Steel colorway by Laurie Wisbrun for Robert Kaufman - $13.32 from Fabric.com (no longer available)
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 with Simplicity 2444 neckline
Notions: 22" invisible zipper - $1.50, thread - stash, chartreuse bias tape - stash
Hours: Approx. 5

FO: Skewed Flowers Dress

I'm here with a new dress today :) It's a bittersweet thing, sadly, but we will focus on the good parts first.

I put in a lot of time to fit Simplicity 1419 (talked about and pictures of alterations here). I decided that this pattern was worthy of serious fitting work because it would be a good block that I could make variations on - it has just straight waist darts and bust darts, so it would be great for all the novelty fabric I have waiting that has patterns in stripes. I wanted to make it up as-is too with the fancy collar and whatnot, so after altering the pattern for my "dowager's hump" (ugh, that's so depressing), thick waist, and hollow chest, I cut it out for real. This fabric is called Flori-logic by Pippa Moon for Studio E Fabrics that I picked up at my trip to The Sewing Studio this past New Year's Day. The fabric was in their clearance quilting cottons, so it was 50% off and then an additional 40% off of that, so I grabbed the last 3.3 yards on the bolt for just $11.00 - score! The collar is just white Kona Cotton that was in my stash from an old UFO.

Yay, pockets!

I really like this pattern overall - the instructions were surprisingly good for a "Big 4" pattern, and I really had no problems with any part of the actual construction. My only issues were with personal mistakes, of course. Likes, likes, Megan, talk about the likes first, lol. So, there are pockets! I love pockets, man. Everything is better with pockets. I really like the skirt on this - the pleats are very flattering, I think, and help the fabric lay flat over my tummy.  The bodice fit came out nice, and I love the sleeves. Hmm ... what else? I like that i can wear this belt with it to break things up a bit at the waist, lol.

So, what makes this dress "bittersweet" for me? Well, just take a gander at the photo below. I'll give you a hint - it's in the neck region ...

My keyhole in the neckline is totally slanting to one side! Ugh! I was seriously so ticked off when I noticed this problem. See, here is how it happened - in all my fitting changes to the bodice fit, I had to redraft the entire neckline and facings - the keyhole has a large facing that goes from the shoulders to around the keyhole, and the original was symmetrical. All I can think of is that when I was redrafting the new facing, I never folded it in half to make sure it was perfectly symmetrical - I just traced and trusted. Never do that! Always check, people! Learn from my cautionary tale so you don't look like a doofus who can't see straight when you sew. By the time I realized the slant, it was way too late to help since you have to cut into the bodice fabric to make the slit. The whole collar and keyhole was finished. I will confess - I have been too embarrassed to even wear this out of my house. I would feel compelled to lean to the side when I was near any other humans. *sigh*

Here's a close-up of the horrendous slant. Another screw up on my part - I accidentally put the collar pieces on upside down. I meant to have the interfaced side on the top, but then somehow I didn't pay enough attention and I put them in the opposite way. Ugh. I do like the collar though, and I know that it wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't made the slant crooked. You probably wouldn't notice any problem with the collar if that hadn't happened. I used a gray satin covered shank button from my stash that I'm pretty sure came as an extra button on something someone else bought (my grandma kept all her buttons too and I inherited her stash). The gray matched pretty well, and I really just wanted the button to disappear. The last thing this neckline needs is another thing competing for the onlooker's attention, ya know? I was pleased with my sewing in all this process though, which is nice  to think of :)

Oh gosh, the back and side view. These pictures finally made me understand how Roisin of Dolly Clackett complains about her back looking derpy. Maybe it's that I now have a fitting diagnosis that I am, actually, a hunchback. I have awful posture, and that doesn't help. Also, the back collar has issues. Either way, I hate that back photo. I have a consistent problem with sewing zippers, and I may sound like a bonehead for asking, but it's never been explained to me. Do you put the top edge of the zipper tape along the edge of the fabric? Do you drop it down? I ask this because the zipper tape always ends up causing the back of my dresses to stand away from my (hunched) back. Hooks and eyes don't help, facings definitely exacerbate the issue, but I'm pretty sure that the underlying culprit is the damned zipper tape. If anyone could enlighten me on this, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, my zipper doesn't match up exactly on the collar - it was so frustrating, and I can only blame (yet again) my drafting issue since it made everything slant. It's not horrible (only about 1/4" if even that), and I have long hair, so I wasn't worried about it. I made a choice between having the top match or the waist seam match, and this area was easily hidden, so the choice was obvious to me.

My invisible zipper did go in beautifully, and I'm ridiculously proud of that :) Also, check out that waist seam matching action - ho yeah! As far as other details, I just turned and stitched the hem and the sleeves since the fabric has such a busy pattern. You really don't even see the thread.

So, there you have it. A dress. With a slanted cut at the neckline. It's a shame, because I really do like the dress other than that, so I am hoping that one day I decide to do a major hack and change the neckline to something more ... straight, lol. In the meantime, maybe I'll just look for a high collared sweater and keep it buttoned up all the way? I mean, it's a shame to not wear a dress that goes so well with my Swedish Hasbeens, right? I'm choosing to look at it positively as a learning experience - I most definitely learned the problems while making this! I'm hoping to use this pattern again with a plain neckline soon, so here's hoping I can put my new "knowledge" to good use :)

Summary:
Fabric: 3.3 yards of Flori-logic by Pippa Moon - $11.09, white Kona Cotton - from stash
Notions: 22" invisible zipper - $1.50, lightweight fusible interfacing - $0.25?, grey satin shank button - free
Pattern: Simplicity 1419 - $0.99
Hours: A lot - maybe 20 total?

"Hot Child In The City" Dress - Simplicity 2444

 You Guys! You Guys! I made a dress! And it fits!

This is my very first iteration of Simplicity 2444, that much beloved pattern the entire blogosphere over. Sewing bloggers have sung this patterns praises for the past 2 years - I've had it in my stash all that time, but only recently decided to officially make it up. I made 2 full muslins of the bodice (including the sleeves), and it took quite a few alterations to make it fit me.

Since this was my first full make up of the pattern, I decided to use a fabric that I liked, but wouldn't be completely heartbroken over if it didn't work out. This is the City Scenes Aerial View Quilting Cotton by Jane Dixon for Andover Fabrics in the pink/black/white colorway. I was feeling very brave when I bought it from Fabric.com, lol, and when it arrived I still liked it but was a bit worried it could end up being a bit over the top.

I totally love that this has pockets!

This dress pattern is well regarded for good reason - it's a very simple bodice with some cool diagonal waist darts, it has pockets (!), it has a full skirt that would look good with a petticoat or without, and the pattern includes lots of simple variations for fancy collars and a waist tie. I went with the simplest possible version - the fitted plain bodice with sleeves and a full skirt. Like I said, it took quite a few alterations to the pattern to get it fitting me, but I am glad I put in the time because it really does fit well now :) My alterations included: 2" hollow chest adjustment, lengthening the bodice by 2.5", lengthening the darts accordingly, adding 1/2" to the waist at each side, adding darts to the upper back. I think I changed more than that, but I can't remember. That's a lot of changes, ya'll! I also had to fudge the outermost pleat on the skirt to account for that extra width at the waist - no biggie.

Even with all my adjustments, it's not perfect. The bodice was great until I put the interfaced facing on and now the back stands away from my neck - it's not crazy noticeable, but it's enough for my hair to sink down into it and tickle my back all day, lol. I'll be sure to make that back dart a smidge bigger next time. Darn that dowager's hump! In all honesty, I don't know that the skirt is the most flattering on me. Pleats right where my gut starts poking out means the skirt sticks out more at the waist. Next time around, I will either move the darts toward the sides or try out a different skirt with the bodice. I think this decision will be made by how much fabric I have on hand.

I used a 22" black zipper I had in my stash - I lucked out really, since I just assumed I would have a zipper on hand and never officially checked until I needed to insert it - this was the only possible candidate that matched. Hooray for thrift store zippers! This zip cost me 10¢, and is most definitely older than I am - but wouldn't you know it went in great and works like a champ! They just don't make things the way they used to :)

Speaking of zippers, can I get an Amen for this zipper insertion?! This is by far the best looking zipper I have ever inserted IN my entire life. I didn't pattern match since the pattern is so crazy and I was so limited on fabric - I bought 3 yards with no specific project in mind and it ended up being just enough if I got incredibly creative with my cutting layout - thank heavens this pattern isn't directional! Anyway, I inserted the zipper exactly as described by Sunni in her free Craftsy class and man did it deliver. I stabilized the opening with knit stay tape, ironed the seam allowance over, applied Wonder Tape, stuck the zipper on, and stitched it in place - not a single problem! What a joy :) This baby looks so good it makes me want to walk around backwards so others can fully appreciate it.

Here's a closeup of the front and the back. I know it's hard to see them in the crazy print, but the waist darts are really cool. And there's the zipper again - ah, perfection :) I know the picture shows some gaping at waist/bodice junction in the zipper - but I had worn this dress 3 separate days already without ironing before these photos (oops), and I know it was perfect when I first made it so I think it just needs ironing.

Here's a view of the insides for you. All of the seams were finished with pinking shears, because they are quick and easy. If you look close you can see selvage in my seams - man, did I use lots of selvage! I'm telling you, it was a small miracle that I could get all these pieces cut out of this fabric. I was only able to fit all the pieces as drafter by cutting the front pieces one direction and the back pieces "upside down". You can only tell by certain buildings which way the pattern goes, but no matter which way you look there are always some buildings upside down so I'm not worried about it. In the end I had nothing but small scraps left, though I did have enough to cut an extra sleeve - I forgot to flip the pattern to cut the second one (oops). Every skirt piece has selvage on one side of it, plus I had to be creative with the pockets and facings - they ended up with a few "cut in" spots.

The only place this actually showed through in more than the seam allowances was on one side of one of the pockets - there was a teeny little hole. So, I used the same trick I did for mending my sheets - I ironed a tiny piece of fusible interfacing to the back, then stitched just over the hole back and forth and put a little fray check on it. From the front all you can see is a tiny spot of white stitches, but in the print you have to really search for it. It just looks like part of one of the buildings :)

I did a small bit of hand sewing on this dress too - somehow the mark that the pattern tells you to sew the skirt up to before you insert the zipper was too short - like 2 full inches too short (which makes no sense since I used the recommended zipper length and marked the fabric correctly, but whatev). I was able to use my zipper foot and sew it closed about another inch, but I had to hand sew the rest up to the base of the zip. Also, I hand stitched the facing at the shoulder seams to keep it from flipping outside the dress as well as around the zipper opening just to keep things neat and tidy. I could have been neater about my stitches at that back facing, but hey - it's inside the dress and it does the job - case closed. I was so excited to be done at that point that I totally didn't care. There is also a hook and eye at the top.

So there you have it :) I successfully made a dress! Oh, and all in all I'm estimating this cost me a whopping $14.00 - the fabric cost $13.32 in the 4th of July Sale, the zip was 10¢, and I'm rounding up to account for the hook and eye, wonder tape, and stay tape. Not bad in my book! I have already worn the dress several times and it hasn't fallen apart - always a good sign. Also, I don't feel like it's too crazy of a print. The dress feels very ModCloth to me, so I think I hit the right balance of quirky and cute. I wore it the first time plain, then I came across this wide elastic belt in my closet and wore it with that the next few times - I think the belt makes it look more "ready-to-wear" and helps break up the crazy print a bit. I still like it both ways though. I was complimented on the dress several times, but not once was I asked if I made it :) I call that a success!

I can guarantee that there will be many more of this dress in my future - hello, cute quilting cottons! This project being a success did so much for my sewing mojo. After the past few projects that ran into serious road blocks that I had no idea how to fix, actually having a wearable finished item that fits and I like is kind of a personal miracle. Now I'm all jazzed to Make All The Things! So stick around and see where this leads me :)

P.S. I hope the name of the dress is self explanatory, but I named it 'Hot Child In The City' after the song lyric due to a) the hot pink color b) the city scene print and c) it's freakin' hot outside right now!