Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Diary of Three Dresses, part 3

Day 2, continued.

Yes, yes, the pieced strip was sewn upside down! And, I hope you won't think less of me, but I actually threw myself down on the floor and cried/laughed! HOW could I not have noticed it? I think I was so pleased with myself for coming up with such a creative solution that I was in La-La-Land until I was pressing it at the ironing board. It was stitched AND the seam zig-zagged to finish it off, so I had quite a bit of time for reflection on my mistake while the seam ripper was busy doing it's job. Here is the comleted piece, sewn Correctly!

Hdod2a

Okay - now that that trauma is over, let's have no more! (Stop! Reality check. I did cut out the doggie and the purple dresses the same way, so I'll have to piece a strip for the purple dress, too!! Note: I could go to the store and get more fabric for it, but friend liked the pieced doggie part and thought her daughter would enjoy a dress with that extra something on it as well - which is actually great because I haven't done anything "quilt-ey" for a few years and I really enjoyed the piecing part -- NOT the ripping apart - but getting out my mat and ruler and rotary cutter and planning the little squares was a fun way to spend the afternoon.)

On to the Collars!!

Hdod3

Sorry for the dark pictures, I was working on these at night and figured this was better than the picture with the flash which just washed everything out. These are the three collars with the first part of the contrast edging pinned in place. Off to the sewing machine!

Hdod4

Remaining contrast edge pieces now pinned in place. What's next?

Hdod5

The collar linings are pinned and sewn and now the collars are done! Aren't they sweet? Now, onto the the bodices and linings. (I like sewing several dresses at a time because I love doing it assembly-line style. I don't have to use as much brain power - and if you will note the above mistakes, I need all the brain power I can get! - and it is much more productive for me. I can get two or three dresses done in just a little bit more time than a single dress takes.)

Hdod6

These bodices are fully lined (It just makes a much nicer finished product even if I'm not following the pattern :-) so there are two bodice pieces for each dress.

I'm sorry I didn't get any pictures of pinning the bodice/collar/lining together, but friend was over for the evening and we were sewing and chatting and I forgot. :-(

Hdod9

When the bodices were done, I went to bed. Thank you, Henrietta, for keeping me on track!

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