Dressed for Spring

Well, spring has finally sprung! Now if only the grass would...these pictures look so blah with brown dead grass for background. Handsome isn't home to take pics so I tend not to venture to a new location without him. I'm just lazy like that.

This pattern is one of my favorites,(made before here). Simplicity 2444. I really love this retro silhouette and of course the pockets.  I actually made this dress a year ago and have been waiting until Easter to both wear it and post it. I made the belt from and old wool skirt that I had, each flower on the belt is made of many circles folded and sewn together. I love the combination of this outfit, polka dots, flowers, pearls and the spring color. I kind of feel like I'm eight years old, but more sophisticated. Just missing a crazy Easter bonnet.

Happy Resurrection Day!

Black , White and More of the White Stuff

On others blogs I follow, I see that spring has sprung. Lucky ducks. But not quite for those of us living on the east coast of Canada. We just had another snowfall! So here I am still wearing tights and a winter coat. So sad.

On a happy note, I can still wear this new dress with a cardigan or a blazer. This is the first time I used this Butterick 5455 pattern, which was a fairly easy project. I chose this bold black and white geometric print in a cotton stretch, it was sooo nice to work with!

I really like the pockets in this dress and luckily, I didn't have to make any fit alterations. I cut a straight size 12 and although you can't tell from these pictures, it fits me to a T. I omitted the back vent in this dress, I found that it had plenty of room to walk and I liked that it gave it a more tapered shape.

Procrastination

I have a huge basket of items in need of a little mending or altering that I never seem to get around to doing until the last minute before I decide that I want to wear it. Can we all say PROCRASTINATION? I thrift a dress or skirt that doesn't quite fit, is too long or needs attention of some sort with the intention to fix it immediately but then it finds its way into my "Project Basket". That basket should be renamed "The Procrastination Basket". This dress was buried in that basket and I found it just as I was packing for vacation and decided that I had to give it a last minute alteration. 

This White House Black Market dress was a couple sizes too big and just needed to be taken in on each side. Easy really, I just had to make sure that the waistband seams matched up. To do this, I have a new trick... match up the seams carefully then stitch one inch before and after the seam first before sewing the entire side seam. Then I check to make sure that the waistband seams match and if they don't, I only have a couple of inches to remove and not the entire side seam of the dress. When the waistband seams match perfectly, they are already basted together and won't shift when the entire side seam is sewn. Voila!

I wore this dress twice on our vacation, it had just the right amount of dressiness, that made me feel so ladylike in it. I think that it will be worn repeatedly this coming summer...hopefully we will have some tropical weather to go with it!

Caribbean Breeze

Looking through my vacation pictures makes me really miss the beach, the sunshine, 

palm trees and that warm Caribbean breeze.... sigh....

This is my second favorite of the four cover-ups I made and wore daily. I only have good pics of two cover-ups... we were too busy relaxing to take pictures of all four, of course. The other two were made the same but different prints. 

Beach Cover Up

 I have been a very blessed girl this month! I spent a glorious week in beautiful Punta Cana. 

Of course, I couldn't prepare and pack for my trip in a calm and orderly fashion.... OH NO! That would be too easy. I had to race around sewing up some new things to take with me! A bit of frantic before a trip makes for more appreciation during the trip, right? Last minute pressure apparently spurns creativity and efficiency in me. Well... that may be taking it a little too far, because this cover-up was super easy to make.

 I had some fabric in my stash that was perfect for cover-ups, semi sheer pretty prints. I am 5'7'' tall and found that cutting the fabric to measure 60" x 55" to work well for me. I wanted it to be a bit long ( it felt a little more chic to me) The longer 60" edge was wrapped around the body and neck, the 55" edge was the length for me. You may have to play around with the fabric to find what works best for you. I trimmed the bottom corners into a rounded edge to prevent me from tripping all over myself (which would not be chic at all). I just eyeballed it, you could be more precise if you are a keener. Then I used my rolled hem foot to hem all four sides ( I shared my love for this foot before, here).

I was going to stop there and just tie the ends around my neck and call it a day but.... oh no...that would again, be too easy. I  had to run to the nearest fabric store to buy clasps, which I am glad I did because they made my cover-up look more finished. I slipped each corner of the top edge into a clasp, letting it gather, and stitched across. I left the tails hang out, making it look a bit like a bow.                                           

Here I am doing a little sewing on the beach. What didn't get finished at home was brought with me...thankfully the resort  provided a small sewing kit in our room. I will share this project soon. It was something I had never made before but it ended up being a real winner, especially with Handsome.