It turns out that my mum had the exact same pattern in the 1970's. I can usually recall most of my mum's clothes, and shoes from that time but didn't remember this particular one. I attempted this pattern a couple of years ago. Perfect loose fitting summer frock. Looks pretty easy to make and it was. The only problem was that the straps were too short making things way too snug around the under arms. Boo I cried.
So take 2. I put this in my resolutions for things to do in 2015 because I really wanted to make this style of dress and with our hideous hot weather I was seriously lacking a super flowy frock to wear on a scorching hot Brisbane day. Allegedly it is currently Autumn here in the southern hemisphere. I am however completely optimistic that I'll get a bit of wear out of this number before the weather actually cools down, maybe in May, fingers crossed.
On re-opening my pattern packet I discovered the instruction sheet missing. Now I cannot remember if it came with the instructions sheet when I bought it. Anyoldhow, it was very straightforward to make up. Just a tad fiddly when you add the facing to your back and front sections separately, leaving about 1cm open so that you can attach the back to front, leaving the inner section of the facing to hand stitch together as neatly as you can. The fabric is a cotton mix. It's a little slippery to work with, but appears to sit well.
I really only came undone doing the simplest thing, the frill at the bottom. I decided to tackle it in sections, front first and then back as it was quite a lot of frill to attach. So I gathered the frill, and stupidly only did one layer of gather stitching, this became a problem when trying to attach the frill because the top bit kept rolling over on itself due to the slightly slippery nature of the fabric. That wasn't my real problem after I attached the front piece I noticed that some of the lower bit had moved during the machine sewing and then I had a seam on the outside where it got caught up. I couldn't believe the most simple part of the dress was becoming more than a bit time consuming. In future I will try to not cut corners and do 2 gather stitches and if I am attaching frill to a slippery type of fabric also put pins about an inch or more down to reinforce the fabric so it doesn't slip.
I cut out pockets which I was considering putting on, however as there was no instruction sheet on how to the pockets I couldn't be bothered. I have the pieces cut out and maybe I will attach them at some point. I know a lot of bloggers love their pockets but I do find it hard to get those neat corners on square pockets, especially if the fabric is a little hard to work with. I also don't really see the point in pockets in full skirts or dresses. It's not like I'm going to be putting anything them. I know it's nice to put your hand in your pocket occasionally but I wouldn't have use for them on a daily basis.
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The kitty necklace is one of my own creations. Here is a close up of a few of them. All I need to do is finish off the others with another coat of lacquer. I've also got a different cat design to work with and will be making up more necklaces in the near future. It's yet another project I've been slack and not finishing for the last 18 months. Perhaps Easter is the time to finish projects.
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