June's Dress

As if I haven't had enough trouble working on this goal this year, June was another difficult month. That was because I left for a two week trip to Utah on the 4th, came home for two days, then left again for Dallas for my grandma's funeral. I wasn't really even home until the 27th, and then a) I was really tired after all that traveling, b) G was really tired from travelling and being off his schedule for a month, and thus was challenging, and c) I only had 3 days to put something together.

This is the first month I honestly thought I wouldn't make it. And I seriously considered not even trying. But as mentioned before, I have an awesome husband who convinced me that this was a worthy and important goal which deserved some sacrifice. So I sucked it up and got out the yellow eyelet.

I love this fabric because it's yellow, and it's eyelet, so what's not to love? And it being summer and ridiculously hot here, it screamed to be made into a summer sundress. Luckily I already had this pattern:

Sometimes I'm a little leary of modern pattern instructions, but these ones made this dress come together in a snap. Thanks to G taking really long naps catching up on some sleep, I didn't have to sacrifice any extra time to putting this dress together. This was the last dress I made in my basement, too since Johnny stayed home on Wednesday to give me a break and I used the time to organize my sewing room.

So, without further ado, I present the Diabetes Dress, cause if it were any sweeter . . . :

Things I Learned Making This Dress:

• Basting is the sewer's best friend when it comes to linings. I've never been much of a baster, but I'm converted after making this dress.
• Eyelet is a lot easier to sew than I thought.
• I actually look good in yellow. I haven't thought that for years.

New Things I Did With This Dress:

• Well, this was my first time working with eyelet. While it does require some careful pinning and sewing, it is well work any extra effort.
• Correctly sewing on shoulder straps. I don't think I've make anything with shoulder straps before and they worked first time. Although, note to self, in addition to basting, it's a good idea to sewed them on with a regular stitch a few times before sewing on the lining, since they ripped first day wearing it picking up G and shlepping things around.
• Did a rolled hem correctly on my serger for the first time. I had never adjusted the tension when doing rolled hems before. Not sure how I missed that in the instructions, but man, it makes a difference. They are currently my preferred hemming method, especially for summer dresses.