I made a dress... sorta

My latest mis-adventure in sewing: There are lots of wonderful tutorials out there to describe the correct way to sew a dress. Some people actually break down and buy a pattern. But not this girl. And so I will now teach you the very INcorrect way to sew a dress for your daughter.

1. Pay way too much for material.

As I passed by this adorable shirred fabric the other day, I thought, Hmmm... I think I could make dresses for my girls out of that! The pre-shirred fabric seemed like a wanna-be seamstresses best friend. And I loved the bugs and butterflies, and the fact that it was not pink. We're starting to divide our laundry into whites, darks and pinks. So yellow was a welcomed change of pace. I took the bolt to be cut, paying little attention to the price. It was mixed in with the inexpensive cottons and I only needed a yard, maybe a yard and a half to be safe. (As indicated by the make believe pattern in my head). The material was cut and I received my little slip of paper to take to the register. I glanced at it on my way... $18.00?!?!!!!!! groan BUT if I could make the intended 3 dresses from it, it still was cheaper than buying them AND they would match AND I would have the pleasure of making them.

2. Sew a right side and a wrong side together.

Can I blame pregnancy for that one? It's a little embarrassing. I did not even notice this serious blunder until putting it on Madison. I simply wanted to check the hem length and figure out where to work on sleeves when I noticed the front was suspiciously brighter than back of the dress. Oops.

3. Don't bother measuring.

The first version of the dress fit Maddie perfectly. But since I had sewed the panels together with a right side facing a wrong side, I had to start again. No problem, I though. I'll just cut the seams out and it will no doubt fit Eden just right. I will simple cut a new one out for Maddie and hopefully have enough for the newest little McCoy girlie, too. So that is what I started to do. I then had to majorly adjust the length for Eden, which meant cutting a few inches out of the middle of the dress (because the cute stuff is all over the bottom edge of the material, you see). To make it look cute when I put the top and bottom back together, I did that ruffle business below the shirring. And if you look carefully at the photo, the ruffles do not line up. They aren't even the same width. Oh well. It's that special touch that says "My mom made this".

4. Assume it will fit the recipient. Kids don't grow that fast, after all.

I had it to the stage you see in the picture before I thought it would be a good time to try it on Eden. I really did think it would fit her fine. I simply wanted to figure out where to put sleeves (you don't even want to know how I planned to do that... very unorthodox!).

I did not fit... at all. It wouldn't have fit her 6 months ago.

So there you have it. 4 easy steps to making a mess on your dining room table.

And so, THIS dress will be the baby's. I have decided to put away the rest of the material lest I ruin it all. When this baby fits the dress, I will practice sleeves on it. And then, maybe by then I can successfully make matching ones for Eden and Maddie. (Or maybe this poor dress will end up on a stuffed bear! HA, and I though Build-a-Bear was expensive!)

In the meantime, I may learn to read a pattern.

Love,

P.S.

Thank you to those who have been praying for my mother in law. Mrs. McCoy went to the ER on Friday where they determined that while she does have viral and bacterial pneumonia (as we already knew), there is an infection of some sort and her lungs appeared "abnormal". She will be seeing a specialist tomorrow. It has been several weeks since the pneumonia began but in the last 2 weeks she has really declined. She literally can not get out of bed. Having always been a person who gets up and gets going even when sick, she is truly not well. Please continue to pray for her.