One Person's Curtains, Another Person's Dress

I think it came from one of the thrift store cloth grab bags--this green floral 35"-wide cotton that someone had crudely sewn into two curtains, complete with severe light fading near the top edge of one.

I initially thought I'd use the in a new patchwork bedspread, but then I started worrying that the old cloth might be prone to weakening and ripping--a not-unfounded worry, since the reason I want to replace the patchwork bedspread we have now is because it has a few pieces of an old cloth that has weakened and ripped.  So I found some other prints to mix with it and set the project aside for...uh..a while.

When I sorted and re-organized cloth a few weeks ago, I realized that, even though I worried it might wear out as a bedspread (which is used every night), it might last longer as a dress?  So I combined that with the desire to make a faux Burda 6401 and sewed this

 (embracing the idea of Granny Chic)

 I learned from the issues in the previous vaguely-6401-ish dress  hacked out of Butterick 6470 and made little changes, like lowering the front neckline so it would be easier to tell front from back

 (and I was good this time and actually pressed things as needed...but...not the sleeve caps, and look how lovely smooth they are still.  I only had to pick out and re-sew a few stitches where I couldn't convince the cloth to lay completely smooth while sewing.)

Also interfaced the bias-cut sleeve bands

 The skirt is the gathered slight A-line I've been vaguely borrowing from Simplicity 9153, including the pockets

Once again I used the ¼"-ish hem rolling attachment (it's not a foot, it bolts to the sewing machine bed)  to make quick work of the hem.  The area where the stitching began and ended is being held vertically here

 It's not the cleanest, but it is nice that the roller thingy is big enough that I can wiggle the cloth out of it--needle down--when the hem is almost finished, then hand-roll the last few inches while it's being sewn back to the beginning.  (Maybe I'll actually get good at it someday.)  I really can't imagine doing that with the 1/8" rolled hem foot.

Last photo is the back, as usual.  Nothing of note, other than the fact that you can tell it's the back, because the neckline is higher.  It's the little things.

This dress is not spectacular, but it is fun to wear, and, again--the little things.