Sewing Week Update: The Solar Dress

I was writing something on another issue over the weekend and I noted that, though I tend to start projects with great enthusiasm, I am horrid at finishing. And so it was with Elsie Marley’s Kids’ Sewing Challenge. As I reported earlier I made a skirt on day one and started a dress on day two, only to have my sewing machine eat it.

(Which brings up a funny story: I told the Bit the sewing machine ate her dress and she said “Clothes are not good for eating. They for wearing.” Cute!)

I got back to the machine on day three and finished up the dress, but had been holding off writing about it in the hope that I’d get some pics of the girl in it. No such luck, so here it is on a hanger.

This is the Solar Dress from Indietudes, and it’s a really cute, easy pattern. It would not have taken two days to sew up if my machine had cooperated, and if I’d sewn all the seams with the same color thread, instead of using yellow on the main part of the dress and red on the bindings. Changing back and forth was rather time consuming!

I think I will make this one again, maybe with wider bias tape for the ties as well, but I was using what I had on hand. I love this fabric, and the red ties look cute with it. The one thing I changed from the original pattern was that the pockets were supposed to be made from a coordinating fabric. I didn’t have anything I liked, so I made them from the same fabric and added the binding to the tops to set them off a bit. I think it turned out pretty cute.

This project also gave me an idea of how I might be able to fix that maxi dress disaster that’s still sitting on my desk, mocking me. We’ll see.

I didn’t touch the machine again for the rest of the week, but I think even this little push has inspired me to keep making kids’ clothes and other stuff. I’ve long had an unaccomplished goal of finishing some sort of sewing project every week, and I hope this will give me the push I need to do that.

Thanks for visiting, commenting and sharing!

This post is linked to Busy Monday at A Pinch of Joy, Make Something Monday at Sarahndipities and Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou. Visit them for more crafty inspiration!