Last Dress of Summer!

Now that summer is about over, I finally was able to finish the summer dress I have been working on. I used Simplicity Pattern 2615 yet again, as it is a comfortable dress and very easy to make. An easy to make garment allows me the time for some creativity that I might not have time for if the garment itself is a handful to make, especially as I am not an advanced sewer. Even though I have been sewing for the majority of my life, it has only been the last ten years or so that I have been trying hard to educate myself on sewing techniques and to be more careful in what I am making.

Although hard to see in the picture, this dress has a white background and small turquoise flowers and leaves. This fabric has been sitting in my stash for probably the last 15 years waiting for the right pattern as I realized that the project it was originally bought for wasn't going to work out after I made up the pattern the first time. I wanted the dress to be feminine, a little bit special but not over the top. I saw the lace insertion idea in a Sew Beautiful magazine from several years ago and thought that would dress it up a bit. Instead of the neck facings, I used double fold bias binding around the neckline. I like how it turned out, but I did have to refer to Claire Schaeffer Fabric Sewing Guide for information on the bias binding. I have dyslexia and that tends to get in the way of sewing at times especially when I have to do anything 'backwards'. Now the only thing to do is hope the weather is warm tomorrow and I'm feeling well enough to go to church and try out my new dress. annabelle, my dress model, needs to lose about 25# as I did and we don't have her readjusted yet. Yet another reason I like this dress. It can accomodate weight flucuations.