Happy Memorial Day! I hope you are all spending the day with family or friends and relaxing. I’m in Western PA visiting my uncle on his 300 acre farm. We are definitely enjoying the long weekend with lost of fresh air and a little fishing. I love Memorial Day. It’s the unofficial start of Summer! Most people who live in the northeast, like I do, are probably more excited for summer this year than usual. We have had the winter that just wouldn’t end. I mean it just wouldn’t quit. There is nothing more depressing than bad weather. However, I am happy to say it has finally started to warm up! Around here summer weather means summer dresses! Personally, I am not a fan of shorts. I don’t think they look good on me, and I find them very uncomfortable. So I spend the better part of summer in a dress. I made this Vogue pattern v9253 using red, white and blue stripe seersucker fabric. Not only is it easy to throw on and comfortable, but the colors just say Summer! I think red white and blue should be the official colors of summer.
I have had this Vogue pattern v9253 for a little while, but held off making it because you need a lot of fabric. The pattern comes in a maxi version and a midi version. So you need about 3-4 yards depending on what length you make. I dug this striped seersucker fabric out of my stash and didn’t have enough to make either version, so I shortened it and made a mini dress. I like the way it turned out but, I had a few hiccups along the way. For the first time in a while I didn’t make a muslin. For my non-sewing readers a muslin is a mock up of a pattern made out of inexpensive cotton fabric. This way you can adjust the pattern where needed before you cut into your “good” fabric. Well, that was my first mistake. Turns out I cut the wrong size pattern. I should have cut a size larger than I did. So when I sewed the pleats into the skirt and tried it on it was too small. Ugh. I was annoyed. So, I went back and removed the pleats. Because I cut the wrong size I also had to adjust the top. Needless to say there was lots of extra work with this pattern which is funny because the pattern is described as Very Easy. Its says so right on the package. That really made me laugh. Note to self – it’s much easier to make a garment smaller than larger once you cut it out, duh. I learned my lesson on this one. Always make a muslin.
I found some similar versions here, and here (although pricey), and this gingham version is cute too. I’ll have more dresses coming soon to the blog. In the meantime you can check out some of my other dresses here and here.
PS – All Roxbury Place bags are 30% off this weekend using the MEMORIALDAY. Thanks for reading. Cheers to a great Memorial Day Weekend!