Several years ago, I made a shirt with a reverse appliqué rib cage (then I used the freezer paper left over from that to make a stenciled rib cage shirt.) I later had the idea that it would be fun to make a similar shirt with either the main fabric or the appliqué fabric being a floral print, and I had more than enough floral knit left over from the last project to finally try that.
So I did!
Because it's always nice to think about weather that isn't boiling hot (although boiling hot is a little more pleasant than roasting hot)
I used Simplicity 8072 and the floral knit I thrifted several yards of a few months ago to make the longest length with the long sleeves (which, curiously, is not a combination the pattern acknowledges.)
It's extremely shapeless on the hanger!
So! The first time I wore the dress in the previous post, I ended up getting a blob of something on the chest! That I didn't notice for a while! So it had time to get nice'n'stained! And then when I noticed it and tried to scrub it out, I was too aggressive and made a faded spot!
But it honestly worked out fine because I had actually made the original neckline too high, so it's a more relaxed scoop now.
I picked out the stitching on the original front facing, picked the facings apart at the shoulders, and picked out the ends of the stitching on the back facing. This allowed the front to lay flat enough to fold in half and cut the lower, shame-eliminating neckline. The new front facing was sewn to the mostly-still-in-place back facing, then I re-stitched everything. This facing went in smoother than the previous facing, too.
My current re-commitment to Fake Burda 6401 led me to decide to finally use a silly vintage automotive print fabric I thrifted in 2014.
I do not regret this decision.
When I found the surprise assortment of yardage at the regular thrift store a few months ago, I further surprised myself by actively liking a brown-based print so much. But I did like it!
And there was a decent amount of it--more than enough to be the main fabric in another Gunne Sax style dress! I already had several other prints to coordinate with it, too.
Except...
I realized last week that I've only been making those--and a lot of the other dresses over the last year--because they're fun to make, and not because I actually want to wear them.
So,what do I want to wear? It didn't take much reflection to realize it was Fake Burda 6401, with no trim or ruffles--tiers are fine, but ruffles are pushing it too far toward Gunne Sax froufrou.
So! That's what I made with most (but definitely not all) of the brown print.
And I like it!
I made another Halloween Patchwork Project! And it's another tiered patchwork skirt!
There's really not much more to say about it!
...which won't keep me from saying more, of course...
The Découpage Dress once again needed repair--I saw that the underarm seam on one side was open, and I initially thought the fabric had ripped. But! It turned out that the stitching had just come undone, so I was able to easily re-sew that....and then deal with an area next to the seam that was worn through.
Since I still have the fabric I cut off of the bottom of the original configuration, I cut a square of that, folded over the edges, and zigzagged it in place.
It's not elegant, but it's in the underarm, so it's fine.
Then I sewed over the stitching under the other arm, just in case.
For the updated dress, I realized that I could use the same approach of adding another layer of ruffle under the existing ruffle to lengthen the Sew It dress, which I do like, but I never wore because it was very short.
I cut pieces 5" wide, to add 3" beyond the dress's existing 2" ruffle. I cut both of them selvedge to selvedge, which made it a little wider than the seam I'd be sewing it to (oh, and, I had top stitched the ruffle seam, so I did buckle down and pick out allllll that top stitching.) I just pinned it thoroughly and let it bunch up naturally gather between the pins.
Then I added a row of wide black cluny lace, to make the black of the ruffle extension possibly make more sense.
This print is still so delightfully weird and mildly creepy.
