This little dress went to Market and Lunch and Lessons, OH MY!

Lately little dress and skirt patterns are lighting me up.  All of those clearance fabric bargains that have been cluttering up my shelves are becoming pencil skirts, shifts and sheaths, and the 50’s inspired designs are more than irresistible.  There is just one problem.  What ever I bought (“I’ll take it all.” or “Two yards should do it.”) is never the right amount for the project at hand.  So the creative bug is buzzing around my studio stirring up fun details and one-of-a-kind garments. 

This is my adventure with See & Sew #B5547

Now I’m not a skinny, young lady.  Frankly, I’m 57 and wear a ready-made size 14-16.  That translates loosely to size 18 in patterns.  There, I’ve broken the taboos right off the bat.  And that is my point.  So many of my students are over 50, 60 and even 70.  The “girls” are lower, the waist is missing all together and we have a desir
e to sew on our own terms. 

This is a fun pattern.  It makes up easily after you have endured 22 darts.  Yes, honey, I said 22.  No one dies from this and the endurance test ends in a very shapely, flattering dress. 

This 2-yard clearance fabric is a medium-weight teal and white check denim with just enough spandex to make it very easy to wear. I think I spent $3 per yard.  Yes, I did.   But it was very boring.  So I dug into my quilting stash and found a pretty coordinating floral to trim up the neckline, arm hole facings, the belt and a little detail on the hem. 

I had some interesting silver snaps, from a clearance bin, I’m hopeless,  that worked well in place of a buckle on the belt.  They are the shiny little hexagons across the front.

An invisible zipper always goes a long way toward masking that home-made look.  I took special care to match the seams at the waistline when putting in the zip. 

Finally, I enjoyed making this dress.  The 22 darts went faster than I expected.  It is lots of fun to wear and never seams to wrinkle.  That is a major bonus for me!!!