Whelp, it's been a crazy month. Three church feasts, two weddings (that the girls were in), one birthday, one baptism, the start of school, writing and giving a speech at Back to School Night, Juliana's Sewing School for several students, several gatherings with friends, two church picnics, keeping up with the garden, a nasty gastroparesis flare that lasted almost two weeks, two hurricanes and a flood, plus my husband was traveling for work the better part of three weeks. No wonder I'm tired!
So I have quite a backlog of projects to share as I did a fair amount of making in that time. There is some serious writing I want to do this fall, but I need to get my feet back under me first (and pour my brains back into my head--ha!) In August, I taught several people how to sew or mend, and one of the sessions was with a delightful high school girl who is a friend of the family (and a classmate of my kids).
She wanted to make a simple dress to get started with, and I dithered about patterns a while before settling on the Terrace dress by Liesl and Co. (Can I just say that the long sleeve sample is terrible? I would never make the pattern if that was all I saw of it. Thankfully the Instagram hashtag was most helpful. I've long said it, but what is up with terrible samples on pattern envelopes from larger companies? It's like they don't want anyone to buy them or something. That's why I look at line art instead).
I wanted to work out any kinks in the pattern before I made it with her, so I threw together a quick version with my birthday linen the week before. I had only two yards, so it was a squeak to get the whole dress out, and I had to piece part of the obi belt, but I made it! I used a little scrap of one of my favorite vintage fabrics for one side of the belt so has different looks to it depending on which side is facing out.
The dress doesn't have my usual nice finishes because I was in such a hurry, but it turned out relatively well, and I've worn it a bunch since, including one of the weddings and Back to School night (where I picked up another adult student for Sewing School).
Word to the wise: the obi-belt is meant to be worn almost right under the bust to look right. It took me a few times to figure this out. The belt also works as a sash (see below). Also, reinforce the back seam at the seat or you'll have problems. I caught it before disaster struck, but bears mentioning.
For size reference, I made a straight medium, which is about right. The finished garment measurements had me considering a small, but I think the shoulders would have ended up too tight in a small. I'm not sure if I'll make this again. I like it, and it is a good church dress, and I've worn it a bunch, but I dunno. It's not my favorite thing in the world. I have three yards of beet colored linen that I thought I might make up the 3/4 sleeve version, but I keep dithering about it, wondering if I should use that linen for something else. Watch this space!
