Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Instant Sewing Gratification

As I'm sure you can understand, I'm about sick to death of the Burda Bubble-less Dress. By Sunday afternoon, I had had enough of it, but I still wanted to sew, so I pulled out some stash fabric and a stash pattern and made this, McCalls 5797:
It's a cute, super simple, super comfy summer dress. I made the view with the contrast hem band and used the extra long neck tie so the Princess could have a bow on her shoulder.
I sort of have a love/hate relationship with McCall's kids' patterns. On the one hand, they have some really cute things. On the other hand, some of their patterns are what I call "super fiddly," meaning difficult and fussy to put together. In fact, I just threw one in the trash last weekend when it was almost completely done. That's the second time I've thrown up my hands and just cut my losses with McCalls.


This pattern, however, is super easy to put together and I highly recommend it if you want a really simple, cool summer dress. We were kind of in a hurry to get the pictures, so I didn't arrange the neck tie very well. The dress slides freely on the tie. Once we arrange it "just so," I'll tack the edges of the casing to the tie, so it can't slide around anymore.
I used this super-cute fish fabric that I got at Hancock Fabrics several years ago. What could be more summery? I chose the orange stripe, which I purchased at JoAnn's, for the contrast. The lace, also from Hancock's (I think), is topstitched on along the seamline. I'm still debating putting a strip of baby rick rick along the header. I don't have a good color in stash, and honestly, it looks fine as is, so I might just forget it.
The Princess likes the dress. She says I can make more. It is just a tad short, but I like it that way for summer, so I'm going to use the orange fabric and make a simple pair of elastic waist shorts to go under it.

Here's a shot of the Princess with Lily, one of our new kittens. Lily is less than thrilled about the new dress.

I have not given up on the Burda dress. I just needed a break. I already attached the sleeves and all I really have left to do is the lining. I'm thinking I will line the skirt with something slippery since the wide neckline will prevent me from wearing my favorite slip under it.

Hopefully I'll have finished photos this weekend. Or maybe photos of another one of these easy little dresses. I'm still kind of sick of the Burda Dress!

9 comments:

Sophie Miriam said...

It looks lovely--how short is it? It looks to me like it comes past her knees!

Shannon said...

Hi, Sophie Miriam, Thanks for the sweet comment! The dress is above the knee when viewed from straight on. Standing still, it's just right, but with the way 8 year olds jump around, I don't want little undies flashing! I remember that used to bother me when I was her age!

Shannon said...

Very cute! You always inspire me....

Mommyof2girlz/StephD said...

Very cute, love the lace detail :)

Jan M said...

Very cute, and I love the bow on the shoulder! The kitty is adorable!

angie.a said...

Aw, it's so cute! Perfect fabric choices too. LOVE the cute kitty! Maybe you can make a matching pair of little shorts to go under it (or the next one) if you think it might flash undies(haha). I think it's the perfect length in the photos, but my girl was also climbing trees and running around alot at that age too, so little shorts would have been a must-have! :P

Beangirl said...

Oooo, that's cute. This is one of my favorite easy patterns (I use the one from Ottobre, but it's the same). My kids are going to positively live in these this summer. Very cute fabric selection (even if Lily doesn't agree).

Julia said...

Love it! It's made like a pillowcase dress! So simple but so cute!!!!

Kyle said...

Cuuuute! Love the lacy trim. And the cat is adorable. Maybe I should get one??