Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Simplicity 3750, The New House Dress.

I try to make at least one new summer dress every spring. This time I lucked out and picked up some pretty fabric from the local thrift shop. It was one and three quarter yards of teeny blue specks on a white background. When I got it home I realized it was discoloured a bit. I decided to dye it slightly to cover up the spots. I used Simplicity's cute shirt pattern # 3750. I made it longer and added pockets. I love pockets on house dresses. I'm still going to have to make an underskirt for it. It's a bit short and a bit see through.



I used rit dye in turquoise and made it super thin. I didn't want to make the dots disappear, just wanted to tint the white and make the fabric look cleaner.


Here are the fabrics I found. The floral is upholstery weight and not so good for a dress. Maybe a skirt or garden apron?


Trying to get anything done around here involves moving a cat. He sure does like to be in the middle of things. So we had a cuddle and I asked Maggs to kitty sit so he would be occupied.


Here are the pockets going on. I used elastic to rouch the tops of them like the bodice is done. I also angled them a bit.


I needed some bias tape but didn't notice (because I never preread the pattern!) until it was too late. so I used scraps and made some really thin stuff. One day I will learn to check out the notions needed section on the back of the pattern before I start. But that'll probably take all the fun out of it.

The almost finished dress. I really like this one. I didn't like the corners of the neckline though. They were too fiddly. so I (covered them up) reinforced them with a couple of yo yos with buttons on top. I also added some buttons to the corners of the pockets to help things match. Today I'll make the underskirt. Now to decide, do I gather it or not?