Experiment Shift

 So I took the bodice (modified with a rounded neckline) from Simplicity 9153 and merged an A-line skirt from New Look 6843 and swung it out to be as wide as possible and managed to cut it a bit short but there was enough fabric left for a ruffle and so I ended up with this

It has pockets!

...which I forgot to photograph specifically, but they are there, using the pocket pattern piece from 9153.

The whole idea of this dress was to try making something super loose for summer, which...yeah, this definitely is.  I haven't tried it on yet, but I suspect it will swish and swirl nicely.

The fabric was in a thrift store fabric grab bag from a few years ago.  I'm pretty sure it's rayon and also vintage, although at 40" wide I can't say how vintage.

Since this was an experiment and I didn't have thread that matched really well, I started sewing with the blue bobbin, then switched to all purples once that was empty.

As usual with 9153, I pressed the sleeve hems after sewing the shoulder seams, then unfolded them to sew the side seams before folding them back up and stitching the sleeve hems.  Anything that saves me from having to bring out the sleeve board.

I used the ruffer to gather the ruffle, and I thought I had it the right size until I started pinning it to the bottom of the rest of the dress, when I realized that I did not.  It was just a bit too short.

I popped some of the gathering stitches and made it fit that way, instead of re-gathering all of it.

Hemming was accomplished with the quarter inch rolled hem attachment that bolts to the sewing machine bed.  I sewed most of the hem before sewing the last seam to make the ruffle a loop (and before gathering the top), leaving a few inches unstitched on each end.  I sewed the side seam, then finished sewing the hem.

It should be very swooshy.

Bare basic back.

...and...I actually thought the whole thing looked a bit bare and basic--yes, I made it to wear when it's miserably hot outside, so "interesting" is not the top priority, but I had the idea that this might make a good layering piece, so I rolled right into making a little extra layer, which I'm going to post next.