Sew Happy It's Spring

Spring fever hasn't ended at our house. In fact, with the beautiful mid-40's temperatures we've been having here in The North Country, it's been bliss! I've been inspired to make some more dresses for Claire after feeding my fabric addition with a trip to Joann's.

Originally it was my intention to just go in for a few bundles of yarn to make my DIY wool dryer balls. However, anyone who knows me, knows that I can't go into that place and not look at the fabric. And I came home with this:

I knew exactly what I wanted to make with the turquoise and red polka dot fabric, but the little market stalls fabric was just too adorable to pass up. I am sure I will find a good use for it. Maybe with another pattern. :)

I spent that night making my wool dryer balls. Let me tell you, winding 6 balls of yarn can REALLY cramp your style. My hand was hurting after the second ball, but I kept plugging away. I've found it best that once I get into a project, it's a lot easier if I just stick with it rather than risk forgetting about it (or never picking it back up again *ahem*). 

After my hand recovered the next day, I found myself in my sweat shop sewing haven piecing together the bodice of a dress. Now this is the fourth time I'd used the Simplicity 2167 dress style E pattern, and I felt it was time to try something a little different. I didn't want all of Claire's dresses to look the same (see here and here for the other dresses that I've made using this pattern). I decided this time to go with dress style F on the pattern which included a "pillowcase apron". Granted, I didn't have a cute embroidered pillow case to use like the dresses on the envelope pictured, but I did have an adorable cherry cotton print I was dying to use. Here's what I ended up with after a few hours of fiddling with some different types of embellishments. The ruffles were just too cute to pass up.

I love how the cherries and polka-dots compliment each other. It has such a fun, vintage vibe which is exactly what I was going for.

The next challenge was to complete the skirt. It was rather easy, really. Sew a bunch of rectangles together, hem them, add some rick-rack, and attach it to the bodice. I was grateful that the pattern included an option for adding some ribbon trim around the waist. Since I used a bright red thread, my mistakes and uneven stitches were a little more obvious than usual. There were a few places where the lining did not match up when sewing the skirt to the bodice, and so I had to turn the garment inside out, and go over those spots again. Not a very pretty look. Thankfully you'd never know since all of those sins are neatly covered by some ribbon.

The shiny ric-rack I had on hand, amazingly enough. I think it gives the skirt some extra oomph! It's playful, yet dressy. I couldn't wait to snap a pic of the dress, as the above photo shows that the shoulder straps are simply pinned together still. I have yet to pick up some buttons that will do this dress some justice. I don't have much of a button stash (although I dream of jars and jars full of glorious, vintage buttons), and so no red buttons were to be found. Looks like I'll need to make another trip to Joann's this weekend! (Yeah, that can't be good...)

More pictures to follow once I get the buttons on the dress. Claire has been begging to wear this one (she loves the colors), so I am sure that I will have plenty to post of my little model wannabe. :)

Are you as ready as I am to break out the spring/summer wear? Bring on the mild weather!