Some of you may remember this dress from the second-to-last day of Me-Made-May. This is actually the first plaid dress that I can remember owning. Terrible, I know. I’ve had it in my to-be-reconstructed pile for a couple of years now, but I finally got around to reconstructing it in mid-May.
Here’s the before picture. I must’ve taken this photo at the beginning of last summer, and it was obviously not a good day for me. My crazy hair and face really add to the ick factor.
Hot, right? ;-P In case it wasn’t clear just how frumpy it was in its original state…
Believe me, you should be glad that I cropped out my face.
The deets:
I cut the skirt and bodice apart.
Then, I went about cutting the bodice to the size that I wanted. I left the neckline the same, but I re-shaped the side seams. I tried the bodice on, and there was significant gaping in the armholes. There were already darts up the front of the bodice, but I pinned some darts on the sides of the bodice to get the fit right.
I cut out a new skirt. The center back became the center front and the center front became the center back seam once I cut away the placket. I cut the placket off in such a way that I could match the plaid along the center back.
I attached the bodice front to the skirt front and the bodice back to the skirt back.
Then, I sewed up one side seam, and inserted an invisible zipper on the other side for closure.
I didn’t have enough material to make strips on the bias, but I cut out strips from the placket pieces for finishing the armholes.
The plaid didn’t match on the original dress at the side seams or at the bodice skirt, so there wasn’t much I could do to remedy that problem. I only had so much material to work with, after all. I did, however, match the plaids along the seam in the back.
I was lazy in the footwear department that day, and I just slipped a pair of flip-flops on. I was walking around a lot that day and it was nasty humid. I regret my choice of footwear now, as it doesn’t do my legs any favors, but I’m not about to take a whole new batch of pictures, obviously.
The first day I wore this dress, I stopped at a historic building and accompanying garden area.
There was a sundial in an area that gets absolutely no sun. Huh?
Not sure what this pose is all about…I’d like to say I just lost my balance, but I think I actually did this awkward pose purposely. What?!
Besides the bugs that were eating me alive, it was an enjoyable detour.
It’s fun to think about the way that sewing has made its way through, from generation to generation. My grandmother and my mother taught me to sew. I feel like sewing offers me a special form of connection to previous generations of family.
), because I think thistle is really cool looking. If I could have taken one of the stalks home with me without getting bloody, I would’ve.
