Sew Alongs

This is just going to be brief, as I wanted to put up a quick blog post to refer to in the Flickr groups where I'm posting.  I'll go more into detail for tomorrow's Ta-Da! Tuesday.  

I wasn't chosen as a finalist for either Sew-vivor or The Sew Off but that doesn't mean I can't join in the fun!  I love that there are Flickr groups set up so I can see what other people are doing with the challenges.  Also, I don't have an Instagram account and I can't see what's being posted there.  Anyway.

The first project is for Sew-vivor.  It's my Easter dress that I call The Perfect Storm because all my fitting problems were glaringly obvious as I tried the dress on for fittings.  I've never had a pattern be quite this troublesome.  The Sew-vivor challenge was buttons.  After changing my mind about what to sew (the first project would have involved almost three gross of shell buttons!) I decided that studs count as non-functional buttons and I put them on my Easter dress.  The studs didn't arrive until after the fact so I had to put them on after wearing it to church.

Close up of the studs.  They were kind of perfect.

Umm...I'll explain this tomorrow.

I had a short photographer.

The next project was for The Sew Off.  This week's project was Kids Clothing.  You're allowed to start with a pattern and then add your own creativity, so that's just what I did.  I used up some fabric from my stash to make up this little number.  The only departures from the pattern are the insert I added to the neckline after I tried the dress on Blue Eyes, as well as extra fabric cut into the back because the original pattern was very open.  I tend to avoid plunging necklines for my four year old.

So sweet.

The back is less open than it once was.

There was one pattern change to the dress that isn't immediately recognizable in the pictures above.

Blue Eyes likes to show the ruffles to people and say, "Look under my dress!"  She doesn't get why I want her to choose different words.

BAM!!!  Drawstrings pull up to reveal an underskirt of fluffy goodness.  When I get around to it I'm going to add little butterflies to the bottom of the ribbons to disguise them a bit more.

Overall I'm pleased with both dresses, but I'll get to that tomorrow.