Frilly Twirly

When she was little, my daughter's favourite garment was an elastic waist skirt made from sweatshirt fabric. She wore it almost always until it was short to indecent and had to sneakily disappear. She had other fun outfits, denim skirts edged with eyelet lace, puffed sleeve blouses, and frilly twirly dresses like Butterick 4967.




The instructions call for the flounces to be sewn into the center back seam. I changed that although in retrospect, with a thinner fabric like this cotton lawn, it would have been okay and a lot easier than keeping them free. The instructions also call for lining fabric as a stay to secure the top of each flounce. Since I had enough, I used the floral print.




At a Palmer & Pletsch pant workshop a few years ago, I learned to use basting tape for inserting zippers. Since then, I've discovered wash away basting tape. It dissolves with the first washing and does NOT need to be removed after stitching like the original tape. PERFECT.

After applying the tape to the zipper, the protective peel is pulled off and the zipper centered over, and stuck to, the opening before being stitched into place. It's sturdy, secure, pin-less, and easy to sew. If you have Pants For Real People, there are great illustrations of how to use the tape with the different zipper applications. If not, it's a must have book with fabulous follow the wrinkles diagrams.




The front and back pattern pieces from the dress were redrawn and shaped to create this curved edge bolero. The three quarter sleeve was drafted with the help from another pattern.




I've never sewn with a sweater knit before. It runs. I'm not sure how well the edging will stand up to wear and washing but it looks cute for now. The lettuce edge was stretched and zigzagged and the inner edge was gathered by holding my finger behind the presser foot. Nothing complicated.




The sweater looks wide even though it matches the shoulder width on the dress exactly. I was worried about it falling off her shoulders and bought gingham ribbon for ties on the sweater front and to make a bow for the waist of the dress. The ribbon looks great against the dress and too wide for the sweater. A narrower 1/4" ribbon might work better. It didn't come in gingham so I'll have to use a plain blue.




I used about 12" of the sweater knit. There's still a LOT in my stash. It's been there for years although I don't think it's the oldest stashed fabric. That award goes to this plaid. If it looks bright and lime on your screen, it is. I bought it because I loved it, had to have it, and then I didn't sew it. First, I was waiting to lose weight and then I was worried about the slight bit of stretch and then I thought the plaid would be too fiddly and then it was where would I wear that and and and... UNENDING excuses. It's gotten to the point where I don't like the fabric anymore simply because of the pressure it's exerted on me. It's one that will go into the Self Imposed Sewing Club.

The idea of the self imposed sewing club resonated with a lot of people. YES YES - I'm excited about it. Knowing that I'm going to start with the coat gives me a bit of breathing room. Otherwise, my daughter is here until Saturday so some time after that I'll pull out fabrics and patterns and deciding which twelve I'm done putting off and will sew this year. Maybe on September 7th - the first day of school. I usually spend that day focusing on my goals for the next year. Organizing the self imposed sewing club would be perfect.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - Denman Island, orange zinger, chocolate bars - we're having Aryck's family birthday dinner tonight complete with black forest cake. Luckily, black forest is not my favourite but if it was, I couldn't eat it due to allergies. I can eat this (very expensive) chocolate bar so it's my birthday treat.