Days of Gingham and Roses, or, Butterick 6677

I cut out this Butterick 6677 last summer when I first bought the pattern. I took it off the UFO pile at the beginning of this month, and now I am finally wearing it!

It was a fairly easy sew, except for the flounces! I made View A, the yellow view, and I had a heck of a time with those shoulder flounces. There is SO MUCH HEMMING to do on these, and then I had to figure out how exactly to attach them. I think I should have put them a little further toward the edges of the shoulder, but they are okay. The gingham does turn back on itself and show the wrong side in the flounce, however, so I am glad I used a fabric with a decent back side.

Otherwise the only issues with sewing this was just the shifty rayon. But how could I resist this lovely print? The skirt of this pattern has cut on pockets, which I love, and the shape and finish are really nice. I might flip this skirt onto another bodice in future, that's how much I like the fit.

The back neckline has a slit and button with loop, and while I can put this on over my head without undoing the button, the slit does provide a lot of extra ease for movement which I appreciate. And I found one random little plastic black button in my button jar that fit perfectly with this fabric to use here.

The neck and armholes are finished with bias binding (I used purchased bias tape which might be just a smidge too heavy for the neckline but a good steam press helped to get it to lie down. I was just too lazy to find the leftover scraps of this fabric in my scrap bin to cut self bias -- another problem that comes from leaving a project undone for a year!

Overall I like the end result of this pattern and am happy with the cuteness of the dress. I've been trying to get to some of my unsewn projects this month and I was happy to finish this one up and be able to wear it before the month is out. I hope to get another UFO and some more mending done before the end of summer, too.

Not the Blues

I finished this dress in June - but who knows when I began it? This is something I found in a box of UFOs when I was tidying up my sewing space.

It was started so long ago I have no idea what pattern it is. I just know it was started a long time ago since it was nearly ankle length when I pulled it out of the box, and I moved on from that look years ago! It was nearly finished; there was one sleeve pinned into place and a hem required. Why did I give up on this dress so close to the end?

One reason might have been that the neckband was all stretched and bubbled and I didn't know how to fix it then, not having made many knit projects at the beginning of my sewing career. Or maybe I just got distracted! I was also aware that I'd started this years ago as there were no pockets added. I would never neglect pockets now.

In any case this was an easy evening's work to fix up and finish, and I've been enjoying wearing it ever since. First I stitched on that sleeve. Then I fixed the neckline by simply turning the neckband under and using it as a bias facing. Once stitched down, it both sturdily reinforces the neckline and sits smoothly with no bumps in sight.

Next up was the hemline. I tried this on, measured it, and cut 7 inches off the bottom, finishing with a narrow hem. Then I used that extra length that I'd trimmed off to make a set of patch pockets. I tried to match the print as much as possible to let them blend in easily. Since it's not a regular print it wasn't too hard. I decided to round the bottom of the pockets to reflect the rounded neckline as well. I like the end results.

The only thing left after that was to fix the back -- there was a small casing inside the middle panel with openings to the right side. I am assuming it was for a narrow self belt to be run through, as this seems a 90s pattern. But I just added a piece of narrow elastic instead and stitched it down at both ends of the casing. I had tried it on at first without anything in the casing, and it was just too full, so had to add something. I like the elastic - simple and effective.

It's kind of nice to get a very old UFO sewn up and worn, although I do wonder why I ever put it down in the first place. Oh well, another blue dress to add to my closet!