Project And Bonus Project

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day!  Thank you to those who serve and for all those whose lives were given in pursuit of peace and freedom for our country.

Über productive day today. Five loads of laundry washed and line dried, and nearly all put away. Kitchen chores done AND I even scrubbed behind and under where the trash can lives. Grocery store run. Some business paperwork prepared for tomorrow. Several pages colored with my daughter and some fun books read. All before naptime.

At first I thought I might take a nap, but it's so hot here today there wasn't a comfy spot to rest. (We don't have air conditioning - our 160 year old home didn't come with it and we haven't put it in.) Then I remembered that my project list included a summer outfit for my daughter. Well, it just lists one (setting the bar low for myself), but I have fabric and patterns to make at least a half dozen. I picked the easiest looking one out of the lot and got to work.

Since kids grow so fast and I'm cheap, I didn't want to cut the sized pattern pieces out of the original printed tissue. Instead, I got out some bulk white gift tissue (that I'm sure I bought on clearance on December 26) and used a marker to trace the sized pieces onto that. Then I used those to cut out the fabric. The pattern I made today, McCall's M5419, has six different options in it. I kind of got on a roll and cut out tissue and fabric for two dresses.

Note to self: however tempting, do not use child's coloring table as a cutting table without cleaning it first. At least the crayons are washable and will hopefully come out of the dress.

If your cutting table looks like this, get out the Magic Eraser first or suck it up and go clear off your actual work table.

So, here's what I got done today. This is the dress I got finished. It's view F from McCalls M5419. I used some tutti fruitti cotton fabric I bought at JoAnn last summer. I had two problems with the dress - one mine, the other could be, I'm not sure. The first thing I messed up was the narrow hem on the armhole. The instructions were fine, but after two read-throughs and an application it was clear I wasn't doing it right. The raw edge goes to the crease. You don't have to sew it first, like I did. Got the second armhole and hem just fine. The second problem popped up when I tried it on my daughter - way too big around the chest! It hung WAY down on her back. I had to remove about four inches of elastic and now there is an ugly spot where I put it back together. I'm probably the only person who will notice it, but I'm worried it'll rub on my daughter's arm while she wears it.  So, are you supposed to stretch out elastic when you measure it for a pattern?  This is the third time I've made something with elastic in it that ended up being huge.

Front view

Back view.  Hopefully the ruched back won't cause drama when she wears it in her carseat.

The second dress was actually the first one I was going to work on, but then I picked up the other one and just kept working on it. This one is some poplin I found on the remnant rack at Joann. It's view C, also from M5419. I debated about using the hot pink bias tape or white, but my husband suggested I use the pink and I think it turned out great. Well, it will turn out great, once I get to the store for another pack of bias tape. The back of the pattern envelope says I only need one pack, but I don't have enough left to do both armholes. (Really? 13 inches beyond the edge of each armhole?) I'll do them both out of the new pack to make sure they match.

It'll tie above the shoulders.

Hopefully I won't have to make yet another run to the store for thread.

SO worried I wouldn't have enough, but the hem is done already and I'm pretty sure this will finish the job.