Hurry Up, Spring

According to the calendar, it's Spring Time.  At this time of year I tend to put my knitting needles aside and turn my attention to my sewing machine.  What has motivated me even more this year is a big bag of fabric I got when I helped a friend clean out her craft room.  This friend used to work at a fabric store.  She had good stuff. I had to stop myself at just one garbage bag full.  This is the first project made from my new stash.  I have the best friends!


Simplicity New Look 6122, view A in a slinky poly-cotton knit. 
Things I learned:

• take the time to hand baste the curvy bits to keep your seams from puckering.  Drapey fabric can be tricky to control.
• The Cheater hem is awesome.  To finish the hem on this dress I cut 1/2" wide strips of fusible interfacing, ironed them on, turned the fabric on the interfacing and sewed.  That little trick helped me recover from accidentally cutting the skirt about an inch too short.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to have the maxi length I wanted. Thankfully this fabric doesn't fray so I didn't have to roll up the hem twice anyway.  The interfacing is adding a bit of weight and body so the dress will still hang nicely.
• I had better luck with the straps staying put by sewing them to the bodice through the elastic in the back and then adding another row of stitches over the seam line created when the casing was sewn.  This is contrary to the directions that say you should not sew the straps directly to the elastic at the top of the bodice.

Next up is a dress for Charlotte.

What are your crafty plans for the Spring?