Thursday, April 23, 2015

KCW Project 2 : Flamingo Dress

For my second project I planned on whipping up a quick peasant dress with Butterick 5776.  When I pulled my pink flamingo shirting out of my sewing basket I decided that the fabric really called for a circle skirt. 
Doesn't that fabric just seem right for a circle skirt?!  So I shifted gears and picked up a copy of Simplicity 2377.  I had added a circle skirt to this pattern once before, so I knew that it would work.  I quickly constructed my bodice so that I could draft the pattern for my skirt.
This was supposed to be my quick and easy flamingo project but as I started to cut out the skirt I realized that my fabric was directional so I wouldn't be able to do the dress without  seams.  At first I thought about just having side seams, but that would have resulted in some of the flamingos and trees at a 90 degree angle.  In the end I decided I would cut out the skirt in eight pieces so all of the flamingos would be standing tall. Not such a quick project after all. 
For some reason when I measured the bodice at 13 inches I thought I was getting the diameter. The fact that I was creating a pattern for a 40-odd-inch finished waist for 20-odd-inch waist didn't even slow me down.  I figured that I would just add some elastic to cinch the dress in and went on my merry way.  I had to shorten the skirt so that it would work with the fabric I had left.  I might need to make some cute shorts to wear underneath. 
It wasn't until I had all 8 panels sewn together to form the skirt that I realized my mistake.   I ended up removing two of the panels and getting a skirt that was just slightly larger than the bodice.  Have I mentioned how much I love Clover Wonder Clips? They are so much easier to use than pins.  I find that when I use them I no longer hate attaching the skirt to the bodice. I added some pink gingham bias tape to help camouflage the gathers.  I centered it over the seam and glued it down with a fabric glue stick  before adding two rows of stitching.

I would never had thought to add the bias tape if  I wasn't hiding my mistake from myself.  I think the bias tape pretty much makes the dress.  I love happy accidents like that.  Anybody else have any miss steps with happy/unhappy outcomes?  I have already tossed one garment into the I make this rags bag.  Lessons learned this week don't make decisions late at night, when making a plan take some time before acting so you can see your mistakes, and mistakes can wind up with happy endings if approached with a happy attitude.  Maybe I should revisit my rag bag and try again.... 

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