Rescuing My Day From a Migraine

Yes, I woke with a full blown migraine. I had such good intentions Sunday about what I wanted to get done today, but no such luck. Fortunately I have medication handy for this and I was able to take what I needed, see my son and husband off to their respective departures and go back to bed.

I seriously dislike the amount of time I spend dealing with such things. In an effort to make the most of the remainder of my day, I decided to start on my first Pantone Contest piece.

The plan is to use the Pantone contest to make some summer clothes, so, I chose a beautiful greyed jade jacquard weave from my stash. I am using a tutorial from Sweet Verbena's website for a Boho Maxi Dress as the basis for my dress. There's nothing like a soft floaty dress for those hot summer days.

The true color just does not come out in a photo with this fabric.

It's hard to imagine that I have had this piece of fabric in my stash for at least 10 years. I purchased a chiffon and another woven piece in similar colors to mix-n-match together. What I was planning when I bought it originally, I couldn't tell you.

For my Maxi, I intend to make a mock-wrap front and then gather the shoulders and tuck the back neckline. I have not yet decided whether to sew the front closed or the tack each corner with a button and let the sides hang free. Then I am debating upon an elastic waist or making some thread hangers and a self-fabric belt. Rather than go the full maxi length, I am going to trim mine back to ballet length.

Then the plan is to embellish the shoulders with self-fabric roses.

And, they will look something like above, except with some beading (I'm thinking pearls) in the centers of each flower. These are super easy to make, but due to the bulk with the gathering at each shoulder, I decided to make them separately and bead the centers before hand sewing them into place.

Here's a rose in progress ...

And a completed rose ...

I finished both edges on my serger, then turned the outer edge under and top-stitched on the sewing machine. I'm using my little snips to gather the fabric under the foot as I go. I know I could have gathered the strip first, but easing the gathers in by hand allows me to adjust the fullness a little more randomly. The one thing that makes this easier ... my knee lever. I keep looking for one on my serger!

This dress will be finished, I hope, tomorrow morning, although I'm not sure how, exactly, I am going to hem it by myself, although I do have some ideas. I'd also like to have Josie's pattern traced off before I have to run errands.

Happy Monday,

Laura