New Adentures

I am very excited for my friend Marie (center).  She is starting an amazing adventure!  She is off to Prague to teach english as a second language and fulfill a life long dream to travel.  We wished her Bon Voyage this weekend and are anxiously waiting to hear how her new life is taking shape.  She tried to take only one suitcase, but realized that she had to take a bit of fabric!  Every good adventure needs a 'bit of fabric!'

I wore my muu muu to the lovely party on the lake (which necessitated the large brimmed hat to prevent total sunburned scalp!  Ouch!).  As I said in my post about making this dress, I will make this pattern again!  It is a great blank canvas for playing and so comfortable and easy to wear.  I definitely needed a short version.















Once again I stated with a piece of upholstery fabric.  This time it was the left over scrap from making throw pillows for my couch.  I washed the cotton linen blend several times and it got soft and 'relaxed.'  

I love all the colors and textures...but of course had to add to it to get enough to make a dress.

I found several 'stash' items that would be great and collected a few others to make up the difference.  I kept trying different combinations but it was the addition of the golden brown linen with the oriental print that was the catalyst that finally got me going.  It had the right feel and the linen texture blended really nicely with my upholstery scrap.

I knew I needed to piece the fabrics to get enough for the dress so I started by making up the fabric.  With the large size of the prints it made it easier to match the patterns by piecing them before cutting out the dress pieces.

I had an idea for the pocket so I started with that...

I wanted to make a 3D pocket that was set into the bottom layer of the dress.  Even with lots of measuring and calculating I ended up making the pocket 3 times before I liked the finished product!
















When I got to the neckline I knew I wanted something different than just a binding...after trying several options I settled on a bias tube with a drawstring to pull it into the neck.  The gathered draw sting pocket was the inspiration and I liked the way it adds some softness to the neckline.

The back is pulled in with a crisscross of twill tape sewn into the side seams.

After making the longer version I knew I would like the short one as well.  It is so comfy and cool!  Maybe I'll wear it when I visit Prague!  

My Oakleaf Hydrangea is going gang-busters this summer!