Yarn Along: Beauty and the Beast among the Lily Pads

~making~

I finished one of the two dresses I wrote about last week.  (I made the second dress this morning and remembered to take some construction/drafting photos, so I'm hoping to write up a little Dottie Angel tips and tricks post later this week.)

I thought at the beginning of this rotation already that I would like to have a second linen dress (my Nike dress from last year remains a great warm-weather dress, despite the wonky hem) but I couldn't justify making another dress for the summer.  Plus I was on a self-imposed fabric shopping ban.  

But then I found some holes in my closet, and decided I could spring for some linen.  I did a bit of casting around before I happened across this length at Mood.  I almost never look at their site, because I find it is mostly out of my price range, and the sheer amount of listings you have to sift through is overwhelming, but this print jumped out at me almost right away.

It is a nice saturated print, but much larger scale than I usually go for.  But I like it!  And the dress came out well, if I do say so myself.  It was just the thing after the chaotic June I had.  A little palette cleanser, if you will.

The folks at Mood sent along this little tag with my fabric, and I admit, I got a little geeky pleasure in sewing it into the back neckline of the dress.  It makes me smile every time I look at it.  Vogue patterns used to come with similar tag that said "Vogue Patterns, an original" or something to that effect.

 

The weave of the linen was somewhat loose, so I was pretty careful while cutting, and made sure to keep it as steady as possible while sewing.  I zig-zagged all the visible seam allowances, in addition to pinking, and figured out a little trick to finish the clipped curves on the sleeve seam, so I'm pleased with that.  (It is similar to what Esther describes here, but without serging)

I did some very careful pattern matching on the kangaroo pocket so that it wouldn't disrupt the pattern at all.  I figured with such a large scale print, that if I didn't, it would stand out more than I wanted it too.  I think it works. 

I did have to decide about the thread, however.  When working with a high contrast fabric (dark print against a light background or vice versa) there is always the problem of what color thread to use--do you match the background or the printing?  I choose to go with the printing in this case, as I felt that light thread would really show, and create more contrast than I really wanted.  

It meant that I have slightly more green thread showing on the pocket and around the sleeves than I meant to, but it doesn't show up that much at a distance.

The linen is handling nicely in the heat, and not even wrinkling that much, so I'll call it a win!

Just the facts: Simplicity 1080 (redrafted), Mood printed linen, bias tape, elastic

~knitting/reading~

I am working on my husband's cowl this week, so nothing too exciting.  I'm on the second ball, so I just have to work my way through it and then seam the thing.

I skimmed through the second half of Kolyma Tales and then put it on the shelf--I got the general idea, and frankly, the book was really dragging me down.  I feel a strong sense that I have to read this stuff to bear witness to it in some way, but sometimes there is just so much suffering that I can take before it starts to affect me.

For a mental break, I picked up a childhood favorite and read it in a day and a half--Beauty by Robin McKinley.  I've not read it for a while and it was fun to read it again.  It is a fanciful re-telling of Beauty and the Beast.  I read a whole bunch of her books a few years ago, including her wonderful retelling of Sleeping Beauty and thoroughly enjoyed them.  Beauty gave me some breathing space and I picked up War and Peace and Secondhand Time again after I finished it.  Dessert before fruit, perhaps?

~watching~

I watched Testament of Youth over several naptimes and ended up liking it quite a bit.  It took me a while to get invested in the characters, but I really like the main actress, and I'm now very eager for The Light Between the Oceans to come out.  I have that book set aside to take with me on a trip later this summer.

Linking with Ginny for Yarn Along!