Blue Gingham

Let the summer sewing parade begin!

I admit, there isn't really anything exciting in my summer sewing pile, but I still think it is useful to document the good, the bad, and the just okay.   Apologies (again!) for rubbish photos.  The light was changing fast and I didn't have a lot of time this morning.  However rumpled I looked at 7:00 a.m., I look twice as much so now.

I seem to end up with a color palette each season, although I don't necessarily set out with something specific in mind.  It happens that my summer ended up with a lot of red and turquoise, so I'm going to go with it.  I made this gingham dress in place of a red and white version that went terribly wrong during the cutting process.  This one turned out much better, and frankly, I think will be more versatile.

I really like blue and red together (and blue and orange) and this dress is a nice sort of blank slate.  The gingham is subtle.  It is Robert Kaufman, and one of the few 100% cotton ginghams I've been able to source that are decent to wear.  (I have no idea why this dress looks so wrinkled--it has been hanging in a closet in my office since I finished it earlier this spring)

The fabric is definitely mid-weight (quilt-weight) cotton, but I actually don't mind that.  So many ginghams are tissue thin and have so much polyester in them.  I also kind of like the smaller check--I wondered if I would, since my preference is for 1/4" checks, but this is quite nice and didn't suffer a bit from lack of pattern matching.

I cut the pockets on the bias and I like the contrast very much.  I had originally intended the elastic just to be partially in front and back, as in the Return to Tokyo dress, but it looked sort of weird on this version (I think I had placed it lower on the front bodice) and so I ended up adding side elastic so the waistband goes all the way around.  If I did it again like this, I'd go with one solid circle and pin at the four points, but this was a retro-fix.  It works.  

I spent this morning dealing with government bureaucracy, and found this dress quite comfortable to wear while waiting for inefficient (but generally pleasant) people.  I wore it with strawberry accessories, because I can.  I pulled out all my summer fruit jewelry with my summer rotation and am glad to see it back in my bin again.  That is one thing I really like about Project 333--putting things away for a season means they feel fresh and fun when you pull them out again a few rotations later.  It is like getting new stuff!

I bought myself a turquoise pair of Saltwaters for Mother's Day (because that's how we roll in this house) but I thought the red was a nice contrast with my red jewelry.  I'll probably wear the turquoise ones when I get out the carrot jewelry to wear with this.

My only complaint is that I wish I had made the back neckline a smidge higher, as I think the shoulders would fit a bit better.  It's okay, and if it really bugs me, I'll unpick the neckline bias and throw a few darts onto the back neckline to cinch it a bit.

Overall, a good summer dress.

Just the facts:

Blue gingham Dottie Angel frock: Simplicity 1080 (redrafted), Robert Kaufman Carolina gingham 1/8" check fabric in turquoise, turquoise bias tape, elastic

Sandals: Saltwater sandals

Strawberry necklace: etsy

Strawberry earrings: modcloth (several years ago)