I wrote a couple of days ago that I was making a dress and I’d share pictures. You might have noticed that that dress was blue. This one is orange. Well, I made another one.
Simplicity 1577 is addictively easy to make, especially with the changes I made. It also takes just under three yards of fabric, which is pretty darn good for a dress with a full skirt.
It takes only about 5 hours total, from cutting out to finishing the hand sewing. And that includes making bias binding and pre-ironing the fabric. I can make one of these over the course of a couple evenings, or whip one out on a Saturday.
A little hand sewing never hurt anyone.
Next, I’ve got to make this in a rather not-me-but-I-love-it silver-with-gold-sequin fabric for a wedding I’m going to in a few weeks. Then, I’m going to make myself another fun one!
You can read my complete review of this pattern (including what changes I made to it) at PatternReview.
It’s been a while since I sewed anything for myself, but I have a wedding to attend in a couple weeks, and I wanted to make a new dress for it.
This is actually my second wearable muslin. Before I cut in to the fabulous fabric I bought, I wanted to make sure that I had the pattern tweaked to my satisfaction.
I’m starting with vintage pattern Simplicity 1577 (discovered from the always-wonderful Dress A Day blog), and removing the collar, lowering the neckline, and flattening out the pockets. I also needed to grade the waist up a smidge, so I took out one of the waist darts on the front.
My first try was very close, and just needed a few more tweaks. Here it is, all cut and ready to be sewn, in a fabric I had one hand.
Why is it that no matter how much I iron the fabric, it always looks as if I've never touched it?
Chickens don’t normally lay eggs in winter and this one is small and a little misshapen, but it’s an egg!
It’s probably from Noodle, since only she and Fricassee lay brown eggs, and Frickin’ Chicken didn’t lay an egg most of last year. We installed a heat lamp and I think that might have precipitated this.
Since Spike is about the same size as my camera and the big scary thing freaks him out, I don’t often get pictures of him. But, I had my phone out taking a picture of the girls, so I decided to freak him out by getting some video.
He’s so fierce!
(He’s a feather plucker, which is why he looks so raggedy. Don’t judge.)
Wile we’ve had a mild winter so far this year (today, it’s 50 degrees and raining, which is what it’s normally like in November here, not January), this is pretty typical for kale in winter in central Ohio.
Kale in winter, a little droopy, but just fine!
We actually have some other kale that has happily lived through about three winters now. It doesn’t always look the greatest, but it sure tastes good! Today, I’ll be harvesting some of this to add to some sweet potato white bean soup that’s cooking in the slow cooker.
Kale is easy to grow and thrives on benign neglect. Give it a shot in your garden this spring!
