Breakin' Up is Hard to Do

Dear Plaid Flannel,

I know you wanted to get back together.  

I tried, I really did.  

But I really think it just isn't going to work out.  

xoxo

I ended up fixing the fit on the plaid flannel Frankenwashi today.  I'm glad I did it, because the fixes were relatively easy, and I did think, briefly, that they might have saved the dress.

Actually, I think they *did* save the dress, but I'm still not sure I want to wear it.  For the record, my alterations were: cinch in the back elastic about 1.5", take in the underarm seam of the sleeves about 1/4" (tapered out a bit more at the wrist), and bring up the hem 2".  

Nothing especially time consuming, and it does look pretty good with my L'Enveloppe from last year (which warms up the dress considerably as well).  Still pretty thin flannel, though.  The drape on the skirt isn't fabulous--I think this is probably shirting flannel, which would account for some of the problems I've had with it.

I look at the pics of the dress without anything over the top, and I'm like: meh.  Not so much.  (I'm wearing gauntlets that are really Birdie's legwarmers; I made them for her last year.  I'd probably wear my lava heather ones with this dress in the future).  That's actually one of my issues with this dress: I don't really have the right cardigan to wear over the top and I still think that the plaid is too much near my face.  I do, however, have a cream cotton pullover in my winter bin that might work.  Decisions, decisions.

It's not frumpy like it was, but it's not fabulous either.  But! I now think that the Frankenwashi might be a better choice for my printed flannels, because I do really like having the longer sleeves under a cardigan.  I suppose the question is: if I wear the other flannel dresses all winter with a cardigan over the top, does it matter what is under it?  I don't know.

Well, things to ponder.  In the meantime, I might throw this dress into my fall rotation...or I might not.

Oh, plaid flannel.  How I wanted this to work.

Update: I put a long sleeve shirt underneath and wore it out to get the kids from school and I think I like it!  Jury's still out, though.  Ask me again in December.