Splash of color.

I'm back stronger than ever. After a wonderful weekend with awesome weather, I decided to not let people tear me down. I love what I do and that is all that matters. There will always be people who are, how to say it...assholes, but that's not worth ruining my love for the craft.

So my first spring/summer project was finished a bit ago. And now it's waiting in the happy owner's closet for warmer weather :)

Without further ado, I present to you simple summer dress with a matching blouse with short sleeves and shawl collar. The fabric came from the lady's stash. She said that she didn't even remember that she had this amazeballs fabric in the depths of her closets and when she was sorting through her collection of stuff during the winter, she instantly thought that this would be perfect for a summer outfit. She thinks that she bought the fabric sometime in the 70's or 80's. So it's vintage and awesome. The feel of it was so pleasant and it just was a blast to work with. Plus the pattern/print on it is asymmetrical so there's no print matching(Which I am all for with both hands...and legs.) Let's just say that when there's print to match, I get all Monk like and will not just let it go until it's perfect.
Pattern: Self drafted
Fabric: Vintage polyester(?)
Time spent: Around 30 hours

The dress is slightly A-lined, with princess lines from shoulder to hem in the front and shoulder darts in the back. There are the smallest sleeves ever and the neckline and armhole is finished with a bias strip made of the same fabric. The sleeves and bottom of the skirt are hemmed with rolled hem. There is no zipper as the dress isn't fitted close to the body and is quite loose. I also made a little belt from a strip of the fabric so that it's possible to tie it around the waist :)

Front closure from the inside

The collar from the inside.

The shirt. I struggled for a bit with the button plackets and collar. In the end I just winged it and it turned out pretty well. The placket isn't on the right side(or outside of the shirt) as it usually is with regular collared shirt. I decided that it's easier for me to have it inside and cut it as one piece with the top layer of the collar. Besides. As the fabric is so colorful and has so much going on, that it wouldn't matter if it were on the right side. I topstitched the edge of the collar to keep it from running wild and I topstitched the cover of the collar inside of the shirt as well. The sleeves and the bottom are roll hemmed again.

To sum it up. This project made me excited about the upcoming spring and was like the first sign of the winter really ending. I am happy with the end result even though I hadn't made a blouse/shirt in a while and felt that my skills were a bit rusty. But  it's really just like riding a bike. You never really forget it :)

On other note:

During the weekend I was looking at my yarn collection. Not stash but a collection because to qualify as a stash there would be at least one project going on. But I haven't knitted or crocheted anything in 3 or so years(oh the shame) and I made myself a pledge. I would use all my yarns in projects in the next year. That means that by the end of March 2015 I would have 0 yarns in my stash and plenty of finished projects.  And I already started on something! To get back on the saddle I started to crochet a throw. I expect to finish it next week. Stay tuned! :)

***

Fooniks

***