I made a dress. And undies.

I find the sewing mojo tends to desert me in winter, despite the fact that my sewing desk is in a lovely sunny corner of my house, flooded with sun and natural light and lovely to work at.  This winter is no exception, and I have a pile of projects in various stages of completion - some just vague plans, some concrete plans with pattern and fabric selected, some cut out, some partly sewn.  I find it best to just go with whatever project fires me at the time.

Which was this dress a week or so ago.  I'd seen it in the April Burda (style #106) and decided that I Must Have It.  I even had that issue out of the library before it hit the store shelves here, but didn't get around to tracing it because I didn't have fabric chosen.  Then when sorting my fabric stash I came across this one which fit the bill perfectly - very drapey, neutral colour. I bought the magazine on a Friday and finished the dress Monday night, leap-frogging SEVERAL other already started projects. Typical.

The front collar thing drapes really nicely, but I did end up hand sewing it from the point to where it is joined a bit further up the neckline. It flopped just a bit more than I liked. Next time I make this (I feel a shorter version coming on, to wear with jeans) I'll just sew it in all along the neckline seam.

It is a bit wrinkly from wearing, which I didn't notice till I looked at these pics, and rushing to get in front of the camera after pressing the timer button means that I didn't get the collar to sit perfectly either, oops. I love the shapely little cap sleeves.

I made a straight unaltered size 36, which with the benefit of hindsight would be perfect if I wanted to wear it like this, but it is winter here, and COLD. So I wear it with my cosy warm tech merino under it, bulking things up a bit.  For work I wear it with this mid-weight cardy over the top, leggings and my beloved pink boots.  I love that this colour was introduced by work because it matches them perfectly!

I feel I should apologise for the pretty uninspiring photos here. Today is my day off and quite frankly I've been that busy lately that the thought of brushing my hair, let alone styling it nicely, or in any other way making an effort was just Too Much. I figured I'd snap these and at least get it posted.  Maybe next time I wear it to work I'll take some better ones - better yet, get David to take them because he makes me smile. I feel like an idiot smiling at a camera on a tripod so tend to look a bit dour.

My other quick project was these - the Rosy Ladyshorts from Cloth Habit.

I haven't made myself undies for over 20 years, but find as I get older I'm getting fussier about how I like them to fit, so thought I'd give this pattern a go. The fabric is an offcut from a drapey cardy I altered for one of my craft group friends. It needed the droopy front point reduced, and what I cut off was big enough to trial these undies. I made them exactly according to instructions and I like how they turned out.  I haven't worn them yet since I only made them yesterday evening and wanted to photograph them before wearing, so I'll report later on how they are!