Why not plaid?

Remember this pattern?



Well, I really wanted to try it out, AND I really wanted to make a new dress to wander around the Renegade Craft Fair in, AND I had a bunch (as in, more than six yards) of this weird yellow-and-gray plaid fabric I wanted to use, and ... well, I did this:



Here's a bigger view:



And here you can see the almost-matched plaid at the center front:



I want to make this again as it was fast (I cut it out in about an hour, and it took about three hours to sew; if I weren't doing plaid it would probably take less time) and fairly easy, and fun to wear. I cut the front bodice on the bias, so that the plaid would purposefully not match at the waist seam. I think it would look better with a belt (I'm planning to try to find the gray patent belt Summerset bought at Target for her shirtdress).

Other than cutting the bodice on the bias, the only other change I made was substituting a center back invisible zipper (running from about the bra-strap line to 6" below the waist) instead of the side snap placket the pattern calls for. It wasn't fun to set in, but by moving the zipper to the center back, I could put in pockets on both sides of the skirt, instead of the one-sided pocket the pattern allowed.

Next time I make this I'm going to lengthen the bodice by about an inch, and widen the sleeve a bit to accommodate my, um, muscular upper arms. I'm also going to try to figure out why the shoulder seam was a bit forward of the top of the shoulder when I was wearing it. Something was pulling, but I can't figure out what!

My camera ran out of juice before I could shoot the buttons in the back, but they were just plain plastic yellow buttons, anyway. I could have sworn I had some lovely gray buttons in my stash, but they managed to disappear.

The best part of this dress was the fun of applying the bias edging to the neck and sleeves. I love doing that. And although the neck is pretty high, I found it quite comfortable.

(If you saw the BurdaNews post yesterday, I'm wearing this dress in that picture, with a gray cardigan.)

All in all, it was probably not the Best Idea Ever to make a brand-new pattern (and one where I made so many little changes right off the bat) in PLAID, but, hey, why not? If something's too easy there's no fun in it, right?

Could this be The One?

I am in a veritable tizzy waiting for this to come from Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns. My own fault for ordering something right before a holiday weekend, but hey, when you find a pattern like this, you pounce!

This may be my autumn go-to dress pattern, although I'm not nearly as willowy as the gals in this illustration. But notice, if you please, the high-necked, cut-on-the-fold front bodice, perfect for big prints, and the really cute buttoned back! There are even side-seam pockets, wonder of wonders (although I might also cut the skirt on the fold to eliminate that front seam).

There's plenty more where this came from at Sew-Retro Vintage Patterns ... check out this one! Me, I'll just go back to watching the mailbox.