Wrap dress

OK, I lied: I said I wasn't going to make anything new for myself until I was done with the fall craft shows, but I have enough inventory and am on a roll with the sewing, so I decided to keep going. This is a wrap dress from Simplicity (#6674).




I've made a dress before, from the Japanese pattern books, but I have to say this one gave me a bit of trouble. I had to re-do the back collar, and I'm not happy with the front panel - somehow there is a seem right down the middle. I think the skirt pieces were too big and I ended up with a whole panel too much. All the pieces for the trim, waistband and ties were a bit tricky to line up. Overall I'm happy with how it turned out but I'm not sure if I would use this pattern again. The fabric (Katie Hana by the Henley Studio, Petite Flowers) was purchased at The Workroom. My grandmother recently passed, so I'm planning on wearing this dress to her memorial service; I think she would like the idea of me wearing something I had made myself.

Bridge club cards

Recently my mom asked me to make some cards for her bridge club, named Petticoat Bridge. She wanted cards that would hold their tally sheets. I decided to make each card different so the ladies could pick a unique card. This project was a lof of fun to work on, plus it gave me the chance to use some of my vintage trim.

New top

This is tunic "E" from the Japanese pattern book "Stylish Dress Book". For some reason, I had a terrible time with this top - I had to re-do one of the sleeves, and although I was as careful as I could be lining up the pin tucks along the front, they aren't quite even at the outer ends, even though it is centered. What I discovered is that my body is not symmetrical, I have one shoulder higher than the other and it also protrudes more forward than the other, which means that my clothes always seem a bit crooked. It was more obvious with this top because of the pin tucks. I don't even know how to adjust for this.


As much as I love pockets, I didn't add them to this top because I felt it would have added too much bulk with this fabric, which is another batik called "Elementals: Lots of Dots" by Lunn Studios. I also shortened the length, and opted to add darts in the back rather than gathers (which I hate doing).

This will probably be the last piece of clothing I'll be able to make for myself for a while, as I'm busy preparing for several fall/pre-Christmas craft shows, including this one: