Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Finished Project: Gathered Skirt (and a little road trip)

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, Tom and I made a quick trip to Charlottesville, VA. It's such a beautiful area and is a town we've been wanting to explore more. The night before we left, I whipped up this basic gathered skirt using Gertie's tutorial and some brown cottony fabric from the estate sale I went to last month. This make was quick and simple and I didn't do a single stitch of hand sewing - couldn't be bothered. It ended up being the perfect thing to wear in the hot, muggy weather we had.

top: Target; belt: thrifted; skirt: me-made, with Gertie's tutorial; shoes: Target.

Luckily for me, my measurements matched up with those Gertie used in her tutorial, so I didn't even have to do any math to whip this baby up. A quick project like this was just what I needed. I didn't need to be a slave to an instruction booklet and was able to just kind of wing it after glancing at Gertie's tutorial. As I said, I didn't do any hand sewing for this skirt, even though Gertie recommended it for attaching the inside of the waistband and sewing the hem. I didn't have the time or the energy for that, and on such a casual skirt, I don't think it really matters - at least not to me!




If you look closely in either of these pictures you can see that not only did I blatantly machine stitch the hem, but I even used black thread. I don't have any brown! Such a rebel.


machine-stitched hem

My main goals for this project were to:
1) have something cute/comfortable to wear on my trip, and
2) to practice making a full gathered skirt, which I was surprised to realize I'd never done before.
Mission accomplished, I'd say. I'm planning to use this same technique - recommended by Gertie - of using a zig-zag stitch over a strand of cord/thicker thread to make the gathering stitch, rather than the 3 rows of basting I've heard about before, for my spotted pink/black wedding guest dress. I've actually made a little bit of progress on that front, which I'll share soon.

While in C'ville, we got to act like tourists and walked all over the place checking out cute little shops and restaurants. I found one shop called Vintage Vixen (sound familiar? - how many sites/blogs/stores have a combination of those two words in their name!) and rushed inside...only to find expensive, designer clothes, largely from the 70s and 80s, though a few were from the 60s and a couple from the 50s. There were a couple of items to my taste, but not in my price range (I'm pretty cheap).

Much of our little visit in Charlottesville revolved around food. We made a mandatory stop at Cook-Out, Tom's favorite fast food restaurant of all time, and grabbed some cheddar style burgers and a peach cobbler shake. Later in the day we found ourselves at The Whiskey Jar at the outdoor downtown mall, which was a rather unique and delicious experience. I sipped some moonshine punch, munched on some complimentary fresh, homemade pickles(!), and debated ordering some fried chicken and collards (but ultimately passed - it was just too hot out to stuff my face with more food).

Sitting outside at The Whiskey Jar; moonshine punch; Cook-Out feast

For dinner we ended up driving out to the famous Crozet Pizza. The drive was scenic and we got to see lots of pretty farmland and some mountain views. The restaurant was essentially unchanged since being built 30ish years ago, and had a great atmosphere. There were brown-with-age business cards pinned to the walls by past customers and a well-worn patina on every surface in sight. AND the pizza was just as delicious as expected.

It was a quick, one-night trip, and on our drive back up to Northern Virginia the next day, we stopped at an antique mall where Tom sneakily bought this for me and hid it in my bag without me even noticing. 

The New Encyclopedia of Modern Sewing - 1949

I love all of the little illustrations


It's chock full of helpful advice and cute illustrations. There are also some outfit photos...which were difficult to capture via camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it.


Chapter 2. Sew a Straight Seam
All in all, I'd say it was a pretty good weekend. I successfully whipped up a quick sewing project, ate some (meaning a LOT of) tasty food, and even managed to bring home a vintage sewing book. Hooray!

P.S. as you read this, I'll be at my first day of the new job, so send me some good-luck thoughts!

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Inspired by MMM

As I promised, I've finally got a few pictures of me wearing my latest me-made pieces, my blue Ginger and my plaid estate sale dress. I've been really impressed and inspired by all of the Me Made May outfits I've seen this month, and, even though I didn't' sign up to play along, I have been putting a little more effort into making myself wear my own me-mades...something I've been known to struggle with.


Instagrams (sorry!) of my Ginger  --  is anyone else as HYPED as I am that PicMonkey finally has collages??

In all honesty, I have to admit that I have some issues with this skirt. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the fabric insists on always being at least a little bit wrinkly. In addition to that annoyance, though, I think there are some slight waistband issues. The band seems a tad loose (which the little yellow bow belt helped fix), so I'm constantly re-positioning the darn thing whenever I wear it. I'm also not sure if I like the pointed waistband. It seemed like such a cute, kind of quirky, design feature when I first laid eyes on this pattern way back when, but, now in real life on my torso, I feel like it kind of just takes up extra space and makes my chest stand out too much. These complaints have not stopped me from wearing it, though I am planning to make another test version with the straight waistband before I finally cut it out in my denimy fabric.

fuller-sized image
I wore my Ginger  to work with a cardigan, which didn't make it into the photos. I was a little nervous wearing it to work, wondering if anyone would comment on it or ask me if I made it, but luckily no one did (I'll look at that as a positive thing!), so I didn't have to do any awkward "I like to sew..." explaining. Phew!

I also wore a cardigan when debuting my Estate Sale Dress to the world. I wore it to work and again to the art show over the weekend. Unfortunately, I've only got the one photo of me in it. It's such an easy, comfortable dress to wear - I love it!

Estate Sale Dress in action at the art show - ignore the dopey hat pose I'm trying to pull off. It was a million degrees out and high noon.

When I wore this outfit to work (sans sun hat) I ended up being complimented on it, so went into my whole spiel about liking to sew and making this dress. It turns out the coworker I happened to be talking to this time (unlike with my mad men dress debacle :)) has a mother who sews a lot and would make her clothing when she was growing up, so she didn't look at me like I was a freak. She did declare I was "weird" once I confessed I sometimes wake up at 5am to shower then blog or sew, though. Sigh, maybe she's right.

I wore it with the tie in front all day.
After work I met up with friends who suggested I turn the waist tie around, so it ties in the back, for a less casual look. I like it both ways, but hadn't really considered wearing it tied in the back until they mentioned it. 

All in all, I'd say wearing these me-mades has been a success. They're both comfortable and casual enough to be practical, and also make me feel good, even if they're not perfect ...and wearing them means I have to sometimes talk about my sewing to non-sewers. :)

Monday, May 21, 2012

Unexpected Inspiration

On Friday, Tom and I went to an opera at the Kennedy Center. We'd gotten a deal where, if you're in a certain age range, you can get pretty decent seats at a lower price, if you go to three shows. I'm new to the opera, have never really had an opinion about the genre in general, and find my appreciation for everything I've seen a bit surprising.

I mean, I'd fully expected to find the performances impressive (duh) but I did not expect to really fall in love with any of it. I guess in opera, like with any performance art, the costumes (along with set design) really pack a punch and have a huge impact on how the overall performance is conveyed. In this most recent show we attended, Nabucco, I was really struck by the costume design. The story is mainly set in ancient Babylon, which I'd say is not my favorite era for fashion inspiration. In fashion, I'm drawn to cutesy and quirky and those words don't seem to have any relationship to ancient Babylonian style - the costumes were dramatic and rich, elegant and functional all at the same time.
(all performance images are from the Kennedy Center's site)



Now, I do realize that the costumes seen in a show like this are not meant to be 100% historically accurate reproductions, but rather focus more on conveying a certain look and feel. The dress I found most inspiring, for example, is obviously made from modern fabrics and materials and appeared to be constructed around a built-in (non-ancient-style) corset-thingy, with outer layers of flowy, sparkly chiffon(?) strategically draped upon one another, all coming together with a single zipper in a rather elegant way. The blue and teal shades with gold accents created a very striking ensemble.


favorite costume - blurry :(

Another similar and inspiring outfit also seemed to have an inner support structure, with fabric arranged and draped across it (please excuse my obviously non-expert descriptions!). These gowns didn't just look awesome, but also looked like they'd be fun to wear. I'd think it would feel pretty good to strut around in a custom-made gown with built-in support that holds everything in place on your upper half while the lower part of the dress' skirt swishes and flows around you as you move. I also really found myself fascinated by the diagonal gold, sparkly accents across the hip area on both dresses. It kind of made me think of a belly dancer...but in a good way.



Well, that was Friday's unexpected inspiration. Saturday's was at the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival. Tom and I checked it out with his parents and I was really surprised by how many artists' pieces I was drawn to. I've been to the festival many times over the years and worked as a volunteer there with my mom when I was younger, but have never come close to buying any artwork. Though I didn't end up buying anything myself this year, there was a lot to get excited about. I think my favorite artist there this time was Dolan Geiman

market stroll
I was really attracted to this pair, but they were a little bit out of my price range. The cool thing about them that you can't quite tell for sure from this picture is the backgrounds in the wood cutouts consist of real labels and rulers and pieces of things layered on each other in stripes, kind of. I love how the artist incorporates a rustic vibe into his work that often has a vintage feel as well.

oriole
He also uses a lot of tree and bird imagery, which is something I always like. I came close to buying a print of this yellow bird on a red nest, but once I found out he's on Etsy, I convinced myself I didn't have to make a purchase right then. I can always go online if there's something it turns out I must have. Also, we have a lot of wall art in our house already, so I'm not even sure where any new additions could go. Especially since Tom did end up bringing home one of the prints we saw.

The Bookmobile - Tom's print

Anyway, it was a fun, busy, and inspirational weekend. I feel like I got my creative juices flowing since I'd been kind of in a little funk lately. It's been a busy month so far, but hopefully I can take some time to CREATE something soon.

How was everyone's weekend? Sew anything?

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Life update

Well, people, it's happening -- I'm starting a new job at the end of the month!
What? You didn't know I'd been looking for one? Oh. Well...

This opportunity just kind of came out of nowhere and seemed like the kick I've needed to start pointing my career in a more creative direction. I'll be saying goodbye to the training company where I've worked as an editor/admin. on an (awesome!) curriculum development team for the past 2 and a half(ish) years. ...and saying HELLO! to something totally different. It was a tough decision to make, since I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life, career-wise, and I've really bonded with and will miss my coworkers, but I'm excited to take this leap.

My new position is at a custom t-shirt company where I'll be working with customers via phone/email to proof and review their custom designs and help resolve any issues that may arise before their orders reach the Production Artists. I'll be learning a little bit about Adobe Illustrator, and maybe Photoshop, which is super exciting to me. Though it's not the most artistic role I can imagine, I really can't even express how thrilled I am to be joining a fun, design-oriented company.

Anyway, enough gushing...for now.

"Any other updates?" you ask.
Well, yes.
I've managed to finally switch out my spring/summer clothes from the boxes they've been hibernating in and shove everything into my closet. There was actually just enough room for them since I also weeded out all of the "useful" but un-loved office-appropriate pieces in there that were really just taking up space and detracting from my overall happiness (hah!). At my new job, I'll be able to dress very casually if I want, so I can chuck out all of the ill-fitting pencil skirts and secretly ugly tops I've collected over the years. Ahhh, what a relief.

non-ugly, vintage springy top, recently freed from storage

While doing my wardrobe rearranging, I dug out this cute little eyelet blouse I bought about a year ago (I think? ...how quickly vacations blur into the all-encompassing Past) when Tom and I visited Napa, CA. We stayed in a b&b in downtown Napa, and, between trips to nearby vineyards, we explored the town a bit and found Wildcat Vintage, a great little shop that sells both authentic and reproduction vintage clothing and accessories. I'm fairly certain I chatted the poor shop owner's ear off whilst trying on nearly everything in sight, but she was very tolerant of my feverish, crazy-person behavior, even though the store was about to close for the day.


little peter pan collar

The combination of a peter pan collar, sweet white eyelet, and the little pleated peplum-like detail at the waist, was irresistible to me. It's a top that just begs for a high-waisted skirt, or cropped pants/shorts to pair it with. I don't know its exact origin, but I'm guessing it's from the early 1960s...?


pleated peplum

Looking at this blouse for the first time in a while has really got me wanting to sew a top or something out of eyelet! (which I have yet to try) One thing I noticed construction-wise, which may seem obvious to you but wasn't to me, is that the under-collar appears to be white organza, rather than the usual fashion fabric + interfacing combination I've seen prescribed in collared blouse patterns -- I suppose most patterns aren't created specifically for sewing with eyelet or otherwise sheer fabric.


difficult to photograph, organza under-collar

I'm looking forward to wearing this with my Ginger skirt and any other high-waisted pieces I can come up with.

Hopefully, I'll have some dressmaking progress to share with y'all soon, though I do have another busy weekend coming up and haven't found time to sew much of anything lately. Blerg.


Sunday, May 13, 2012

Checking in...

I know I've been absent here for almost a week, but it's really been a crazy one. I'll be sharing some details about the events that went down, soon. For now, though, I'm still undecided about whether I should go for a pink top or a black top for my spotted silk wedding guest dress.


I'm planning to just make a quick decision and decide right before I start sewing, since right now I feel like I could really go either way. That means it'll be a surprise for y'all, but, whether I go with black or pink on top, I'm definitely taking Lenora Jane's advice from the comment she left on my last post and using contrasting fabric for some details on the bodice (like a black little heartbreaker-esque collar on an otherwise pink top, for example).  But, like I said, you kiddos will just have to wait and see what I come up with.

Despite this having been such a crazy week that I have not had a minute to do any sewing, I did somehow find myself at Payless, where I grabbed these adorable wedges for FOURTEEN DOLLARS! And I'm not the only one who's head over heels for them either.

wedges!



They love each other.

Anyway, that's all I've got to share for now. I'll check back in soon, when I've made some progress on my sewing plans. :)

Monday, May 7, 2012

Altered plans

So, I had 100% planned to alter the aqua sheath dress I'd picked up at Goodwill in time to wear it to a wedding over the weekend. Things got off to a fine start. I took a 1" chunk out of the back bodice, which improved the fit a bit. But, the front of the bodice was still pretty gapey in the chest and the overall fit remained oddly baggy. I tried a few things but nothing quite did the trick and I was still struggling with the chest being simultaneously too tight and too gapey, so I eventually just threw the dang thing on the floor -- SO over it. Perhaps I'll try again some other time.




I ended up wearing another Goodwill find from a while back, a black twirly dress with a bateau neckline, a little scoop back, and a full skirt. I paired it with a black and white polka-dotted belt, yet another Goodwill find. It was a fun party outfit and the wedding was lovely. Unfortunately we only got a couple of pictures (and only one of me, in which you can just see the neckline of the dress). Sometimes when you're having a super time, it's not easy to get photographic evidence. ;-)


with Tom at the wedding


Oh, and I got a haircut! I'd hoped to redefine my bangs that had been seriously growing out of control... but they kind of fade off to the side now. Eh, well... it works for now.


Anyway, in case you're wondering, the wedding really was great. The reception was in the bride's parents' backyard with a big tent where we all sat at tables below strings of pink and green lanterns and white lights. The bride and groom's first dance was to Walk the Line, and was pure adorable.


first dance

Oh, and I don't have a picture, but did I mention the FOOD?! Well, it was amazing. We had pulled pork bbq sandwiches, cole slaw, mac and cheese, cornbread muffins, green beans, potato salad, and the cake was lemon with coconut frosting - SO DELICIOUS.  It was really an awesome wedding to be a guest at - we were having so much fun, I was even able to drag Tom out on to the dance floor! Good times.

I'm definitely looking forward to attending two more weddings this summer. I've been thinking a lot about my wedding guest dress plans I posted about last week, and was really fixated on how I could use the Milly spotted silk with the New Look pattern. (I'd love to sew this up in the green/blue rayon, also - if you can't decide, just pick both, I always say!) I pinned some fabric to good ol' Ruby to get a better idea of what it might look like to use the spotted silk as part of a dress.

pink bodice with spotted skirt

I'd planned to use the pink sateen for the bodice and the spotted silk for the skirt (the actual skirt will be fuller than this). When I combined the two, it really seemed like something was missing, so I added a black ribbon (left over from some Victoria's Secret "gift wrapped" something...circa 2003?) I happened to have in the sewing stash to give some contrast and definition at the waistline. This was a definite improvement, but I kept gravitating toward more black to pair with the spotted silk. I dug a random piece of black corduroy - literally the only piece of black cloth in my stash - out of the closet and threw it over the bodice. I really think it's an improvement, but I'd love to also add a pink bit at the waist, probably with a bow, to break up all the black. You can kind of get the idea here - just imagine a pink belt.

black bodice with spotted skirt


Obviously, I would not actually use the corduroy for the bodice - it's just acting as a visual aid now. I've ordered some black fabric from fabric.com, as it appears to be a color lacking in my stash - if I don't end up using it for this project, I know it'll get used in something else.

Do you guys think the black is better than the pink, or am I losing it?

I think it'd help soften the look, if I do end up going with a black bodice, to add some kind of collar detail. I own the Heartbreaker Beverly dress (in peacock blue, no longer available?) and really love the neckline on it...perhaps I could do something similar here.

Heartbreaker fashion Beverly dress


Thoughts?

Friday, May 4, 2012

Summer weddings dress plans

Friends, I have a confession. I'm sorry to say that I sort of disregarded your votes for my wedding guest dress plans. Well, not completely, but...
(Also, I've taken on Kate Gosselin's style of discussing a topic here a little bit, the self interview. Just a heads up.)

I've decided to at least try to make two dresses since I'll be attending two weddings this summer - in early August, actually. And the two patterns I chose from the four I'd had you vote on are:

McCall 4581 and New Look 6910!!!!!!

1958 McCall 4581
New Look 6910 - yes, this photo isn't the highest quality, but is that Sarah Palin??

Yaaaaayyy!

What?

Next to no one voted for New Look 6910?

That's the part I "disregarded" ...because I want to make it! It's similar to the other NL pattern I'd thrown in the ring for voting, but I like the scoop neckline + princess seams combo. What don't I like? That jacket. I'm pretty sure that's why this baby got very few votes from y'all too. Don't judge a book by it's cover! Or a dress by it's heinous shiny chartreuse jacket! It's what's inside [the jacket] that counts. Ok?

I'm planning to go with a combination of options A and B. I'm thinking full skirt, scoop neck, little sleeves (which I might lengthen a bit). Why would I want sleeves if these weddings are in hot, humid, muggy, gross August? I think it looks better...and maybe they'll help catch the sweat that will be pouring off of me. Oh, and I'm ignoring the little waist detail/belt-y things going on in this pattern -- a bow belt thing might be cute, depending on my fabric choice, but we'll see.
NL 6910 fronts

NL 6910 back

And for fabric choices, I was initially thinking I could use the blue/green rayon challis I'd hoped to make use of in my warmer weather wardrobe plans since it would be nice and breathable and soft and twirly, but now I'm really being drawn to the pink/cream/black color scheme of the fabric (maybe it looks better in person?) I picked up with my livingsocial deal for G. Street Fabrics. I'm kind of torn between the two - they'd create such different looks. If I picked the green/blue rayon, I think I'd want a contrasting belt of some sort to break it up a bit, since it's an allover print...but if I went with the pink/cream/black, I could use the pink pima sateen for the bodice and the Milly spotted (slightly stiff) silk for the skirt. What do you guys think?

blue/green rayon challis abstract floral
rayon closeup

OR:

pink pima cotton sateen (matches the pink of the dots on the silk below)

Milly spotted silk - pink/cream/black

As for the vintage McCall's pattern, (the illustration for which also lives in my blog header, in case you  missed that) I think I'm all decided re: pattern + fabric. It was kind of a given for me - I couldn't not choose it! Gillian called me out in the comments on my last post before I could even announce my plans...to use white & red fabric! I'll basically be making the dress on the envelope - full, not pencil skirt - with this fabric I'd originally planned to use for a Sencha, but couldn't resist matching up with this dress (after hurrying online to buy extra yardage). It's a kind-of-drapey white rayon shirting with red spots. I was thinking I could finally use my belt kit I got from Sunni's shop over at A Fashionable Stitch to make a coordinating red belt, too...or maybe matching polka dot...?

spotted rayon
As you can see, the skirt I'll be working with here is rather full - that's a lot of fabric!
I've never made a circle skirt, so have nothing to compare it to, but I'm hoping to doing lots of twirling. Such a full skirt makes me wonder if I should try to wear my light pink vintage (very similar to this, but closer to tea length, which is not really my optimal length) crinoline under it, or make a new, smaller crinoline (like Gertie's), OR try Gertie's other full skirt flouncyness solution of lining it with organza for a slight, built-in poof.

instructions illustration
back of pattern envelope

Well, what do you think? Am I on the right track here?

I've actually got three weddings I'll be attending, but the first one is this weekend, so I didn't have the forethought time to sew something up. I did however pick up a simple teal sheath dress from Goodwill that I plan to alter (at the last minute) a tiny bit so I can wear it to this derby day/cinco de mayo/wedding. Planning to go for a teal + red color combo, but I'll share more all about that once I've got photos and such.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Finished Project: Estate Sale Dress

This project kind of popped up out of nowhere. It doesn't really relate to my warmer weather wardrobe plans, but sometimes you've just gotta go where inspiration takes you.

I started it on an impulse, did not plan it to death, and am finding myself rather pleased with the results. As Gillian noted recently, quick, impulsive creating sometimes pans out well and other times it falls flat. In this case, I think it worked in my favor. Not planning this project out too much helped me enjoy the sewing process on this simply constructed dress, kept me from stressing about working with plaid for the first time, and boosted my morale a bit, too.

McCall 9735 - view C


I used the plaid fabric, some navy bias tape, and McCall 9735 all from my recent estate sale haul. Now, I technically made this dress in April (with my Ginger and my Easter Egg blouse, that makes 3 finished pieces for the month...yay!), even though I'm debuting it in May.


Here she is! (the collar looks rather uneven in this photo, but I promise it's just an illusion.

Let's get down to some details about this dress, shall we?

I opted for version C -- SLEEVELESS! (I'm still pretty much over set-in sleeves) I think this will make it a good casual summer dress that can easily be paired with one of my ever-present cardigans. Now, speaking of the sleevelessness of this baby, at the last minute I decided to use bias tape to finish the armholes instead of just as armhole facing.  I'd even cut out the actual armhole facings with the pattern pieces, but now they're hanging out in my scrap basket - oh, well. The way I did the bias tape kind of extended the edge of the armhole over onto the shoulder a bit, so they're verging on cap sleeves of sorts, which I actually like.

I did end up using the neck facing pieces, but not as facings! I combined the front and back pieces to create a little collar and faced the inner neckline with more bias tape.


Bias tape bound armholes.

Collar!

As soon as I'd decided to make this pattern, I knew I wanted a belt involved, or else I'd just feel like a frumpy, plaid blob. Instead of opting for the exact belt option in the pattern, complete with buckle and eyelets, I just used a strip of fabric to make a little sash/tie. This helped eliminate the baggy tent-like aspect the pattern design, sans belt, had going on.


From the back - the belt/waist tie definitely helps give this dress some shape.


I was inspired by the soft, lightweight, linen-y feel of the plaid and wanted a casual warm weather dress (I haven't switched out my winter wardrobe, since the weather here has been all over the place. All my spring/summer clothes are still hiding in a bin). I love how comfortable this dress is. Part of that is due to the loose fit, though I'm considering making a couple of darts/tucks in the front bodice near the waist to keep it from looking super blousey on top - at the same time, though, I don't really care! like it anyway.


Might eliminate some extra bulk in bodice with more darts or tucks.

Now, about working with plaid...matching up the stripes in this project wasn't totally horrible, but I'd still call it a fail, mainly because I just couldn't really be bothered to care. If I'd been really trying, I'd say I did my best, but...I didn't. I did work to at least acknowledge the placement of stripes when I was aligning the pattern pieces on the fabric before cutting, but I didn't match anything along the seams. The bust darts plus the long french(?) darts combined to kind of make plaid-matching impossible, or at least not worth it for me. I came close, but then failed at matching the plaids at the center back zip, but, like I said, I'm not sweating it! I've noticed it's not terribly uncommon for inexpensive RTW garments to not bother with matching plaids and prints at seams, so for this quick project, I don't mind and don't expect to get any weird looks when parading around in my somewhat miss-matched plaid creation - or at least not due to my lack of matching stripes.

Is it even possible to match plaids on side seams of an A-line skirt??


Also of note for this project, I was finally able to install an invisible zipper with my regular zipper foot and not have it look totally bunchy, blatant/un-invisible, and gross! yay.

I promise I'll do an official fashion show with this dress and my Ginger(s) - I'm hoping to have a denim one in the works very soon - once I can get some photos of me actually wearing them.

Also, up next, I'm going to be picking one or two of these dress patterns from my stash to make so I can have a pretty new dress (or dresses!) to wear to the two back-to-back weddings I'll be attending this summer. What do you think? I've numbered them one through four, so feel free to vote on which one or two you think I should make!


As always, please excuse the crappy photo! Bonus points to anyone who recognizes the vintage McCall pattern. :)