Party Dress and Bean Planting.

I've been sewing a lot, lately.  I had these grand notions that I would completely sew all my summer clothes this year, both in an effort to be thrifty and also to keep pace with my changing, after baby physique.  I've realized  a couple of things.  1: sewing your own clothes is about the same as buying clothes, if not more expensive, once you buy the pattern, fabric, and account for your time. 2:  I don't have much in the way of down time.  Imagine that!  3 kids (one being an infant), kind of make it impossible to get a ton of extra curricular activities finished.  I still have a quilt that needs to be completed.  Scratch that, 2 quilts.  Argh.  However, I did manage to finish this lovely.

I love this fabric.  Nani Iro.  Cotton double gauze.  I had never seen, touched, or worked with this stuff before.  It's dreamy.  It drapes so well, without being clingy, and it's light and soft.  Most assuredly not thrifty, so while I would like to have an entire wardrobe of this stuff, I can not.  I got this at a local fabric store Bolt.  They have some crazy beautiful things.  Once I saw it, and fell in love, I wondered what I could do with it.  I had already made a sundress using this  pattern.  Originally, I used some quilting weight cotton that I had gotten on super sale.

That fabric worked, but it was a little stiff.  This cotton gauze, though, is perfect.  The good thing about this pattern (other than it being mostly free), is that it works up fast. Blazingly fast, if you are experienced with shirring (which is not hard).  If you were determined, and had no distractions (say, like a baby and two toddlers), you could probably finish this in 3 hours.  For me, it took 3 days.  Additionally, it doesn't take that much fabric.  Two yards or so, depending on what length you want. The pattern calls for it to be way longer than I typically like my dresses to be.  On me, it would have been mid-calf.  So I made it shorter, to knee length.  I omitted the pockets and made ruffles.  I love it!  It works with my ever-changing-after-baby-body since the shirring makes it very forgiving in the size department.  Did I mention how comfortable it is?  The fabric dressed the pattern up so, to me, it looks like a sweet garden party dress.

It was a busy week in the garden, as well.  Out came the old sugar snaps and garlic, and in went the bush   and pole beans.  We planted rattlesnake beans, which are beautifully speckled, and some type of bush bean that are purple.  I dream of many jars of dilly beans come September.  Hopefully, our new pressure canner is up to the task.  I guess, just add that to the list of summer projects.