How new and exciting! Har har, yes, this is the same jumper I always make. But here's the thing: I wasn't planning on making a Christmas dress because Daughter already has a plentiful wardrobe of lovely garments, and she isn't growing anywhere near as fast as she was, so I had no need to make something. Then Hubs started giving me a hard time about it and implying that it's possible this lack of a new Christmas dress means I don't love her enough or something (it was late, the logic was fuzzy, I don't know). We're talking less than a week till Christmas and now I have to prove my love for my child by whipping up something appropriate for holiday wear?!? Nevermind the fact that I swore off sewing any more garments for her before the new year.So since I really had to bust a move, it was back to an old standby pattern. I'm pleased with how sweet it came out, except in my rush to finish I cut it with the nap going in the wrong direction on this lovely corduroy. Doh!
The great thing about making the same simple pattern eleventy-billion times is that you get a lot of opportunities to improve on it.
I did two new things with this dress. First, I sewed mock french seams on both side seams. A mock french seam is really, really easy to do and a fabulous alternative to finishing the raw edges with a serger or a zig-zag stitch, especially on a curved seam (which this is). I could show how it's done next week if anyone is interested, but the technique can be found in any basic sewing book*.
And here I chose to bind the raw edge of the facing with bias tape. This was actually somewhat due to laziness, because my serger is put away and I didn't feel like getting it out for one garment. Also, I don't have black thread for it and I don't like how white thread looks on these dark fabrics.
So that's that. There was a Christmas dress after all. Of course we never got around to taking our traditional "Daughter in front of the tree" photo...that tradition made it 2 years before dying. Hopefully we can get it going again next year!
Also, please give me a golf clap 'cause I finally got onto Flickr AND I figured out how to get the photos from there to the blog. This is a big achievement for me, due to my technological backwardness. Now I can get all the old project photos up there and my computer can stop gasping and choking on the gazillion image files I've been storing. Yay me!
*At this time I must evangelize about owning a good, basic sewing instruction book. I have two; one is by Better Homes & Gardens, one is Vogue. They're essentially the same, but I've found them both to be useful for different things. If you do not own a good, basic sewing instruction book, take that Barnes & Noble or Amazon gift card you got for Christmas and go buy one right now. Shockingly, I have found mine on the bargain shelves at B&N [I think I paid $7.99 for the Vogue one], which is criminal because I think they should be displayed on a pedestal with several spotlights, though the low price tag does mean everyone can own one. It will change your life, I promise!
1 comment:
Looove it! That pattern is an absolute staple. It really is. and you know how much I heart the cherry fabric.
I have the Simplicity sewing book and have referred to it often. My sister gave it to me for my birthday last year. I've actually seen it in the sewing dept. at WalMart so no special bookstore find, but very useful.
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