More Fashion for Memorial Day

I made JB a dress yesterday. It was pretty easy, except that I started and stopped a lot. It was Simplicity 3722.

Pretty cute for summer, right?

And now a few comments for the Sewists Amongus:

The pattern says to sew the band -- the black band at the empire waist -- as a piece between the bodice and the skirt. And the bodice is lined.


So the first try looked awful. I used a slippery lining that I had around, and it didn't work at all. You were supposed to gather the center front of the bodice, and the if I were a new sewer, I'd be extremely unhappy with this pattern.


So I started over! Thank goodness I always buy a little more fabric. I used the same cotton fabric as lining the second time.

I put piping along the straps and top of the bodice. Interesting that this doesn't just dress it up, it really helps stabilize the straps and the bodice. It gives it a little more shape.

I made that empire waistline band a loose thing that simply folds down rather than is attached on both sides. I used a 2" piece of elastic to gather the center front of the bodice instead of trying to randomly gather the fabric into a 2" size.

All this made it look a LOT better. JB looks fabulous in it. I would show you but she's at school.

On a sad note, the baby birdies have flown the coop. Or the bag stash, as it were. We looked in there this morning and all 4 of them were gone. I think they were big enough to learn to fly.

Bye, bye, birdies. Sniff.