Green garden dress

This is my yet-to-be-completed latest project. I'm doing the top right view illustrated in pink with a red cummerbund, but mine is a limey yellow green cotton with a batik flower in it. Trust me, it's much nicer than it sounds. 

I would have done the central one with the long tie that wraps across the front, but I didn't have enough fabric, and didn't fancy a contrasting tie, so cummerbund it is. On the positive side, it's an opportunity to try out boning, and if it fails I can just wear the dress without any waist detail. 

The other nice thing about this pattern is that the skirt is 4 squares gathered into the waist, so hemming it should be a piece of cake compared to the previous dresses I've made, which have had curved hems. No bias to drop, so no need to hang for 3 days and measure and mark the hem. 

... although I didn't do that before either, I just hoped for the best. 

Oh, and no underarm gusset! Result!  

The deadline for this is Friday as I'm flying away to South Africa on Saturday, which is when I'm going to wear it (for a garden wedding, hence the name). So since it's only 55% finished, technically I shouldn't be blogging about it at all, but sewing it. 

Polka dot dress success

Although all I've done for ages has been knitting, I have completed a few sewing projects too, and finally I can prove it! I made a polka dot dress in the summer but recently not only did I have the opportunity to wear it, I also remembered to take photos of me wearing it - well done me. 

Yes, I am a bit short in the legs so low-cut red court shoes would have looked better, but I haven't got any. And yes, I am desperately in need of a haircut. The skirt is two full circles, so it's very full (the hem of the skirt is 400 inches around, and the dress takes 7 yards of fabric). Looking at the photo now though I think it would look great with a petticoat, so I might make one.

Back view:

And the pattern it came from is this (copyright date 1957): 

If I made it again (and I'm tempted, because I have loved wearing it) I would consider putting pockets in the side seams of the skirt. Just for, y'know, lipstick. You can't not wear lipstick with a dress like this. It would be amazing in chiffon, though I know I won't be able to manage chiffon, but it's very wearable in cotton so I might do another version one day in a different print. 

Oh and these vintage patterns with gussets under the arms... they're an absolute bitch. 

More on piping

Just so that I'd get good value for money out of the new piping foot (which cost £9!) I've also bought this pattern. Again it's a bit summery to make at the moment... what I need is a cardigan.

A work in progress

I thought I'd list a WIP so that I've got something to put under the sewing tag and maybe to encourage me to get on with it. This dress is in an orangey-red linen and has orange piping. I started it when it was warm and sunny, and now it's cold and rainy I'm not very inclined to finish it. It's my first go at piping, and the piping isn't brilliant, but I didn't have a piping foot so I used a zipper foot.

Annoyingly I was 10cm short of piping, but when I went to get more I bought a piping foot, so maybe the rest of it will be better. I'll try to get it finished when I get back from my holiday, otherwise I think it might be a work-in-progress for another 6 months, until Spring!

It's from this pattern, view 3 (blue polka dots) but I'm going to add the pockets from view 2.