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Yay me!  I finished another dress, and just in time for the beach! (since I bought the fabric especially for its “beachy” look)

This time it was my first attempt making Sewaholic’s Lonsdale Dress.

The fabric is Michael Miller’s “Shore Thing Kelp” in green.

I have to say, I love that whole collection.

I am really, really happy with how it turned out.

I only had two problems when putting the dress together:  the zipper was faulty and broke after I installed it completely.  There were a lot of curse words.  I then pulled it out and put in a new one.  This time I was pissed off, though, so I did a sloppier job and therefor you can see the zipper this time.  Whereas the broken zipper had been sewn in beautifully.  Of course.

Then, when I was working on the hem I busted a needle on my serger.  Totally my fault, but still.  Very frustrating. Lesson: don’t sew while pissed off.

This dress is coming to the beach with me this weekend, for sure!

I finally finished a quilt!

I started this quilt at least a year ago as a way to use up all of my cherished (and discontinued) Heather Ross scraps.

It has probably the crappiest binding and top quilting of any quilt ever, but I don’t care.

I wanted it to be a summer quilt, and I finished it in the summer.  While there is still summer left in which to enjoy it.

The backing fabric is a king sized sheet from Walmart.  I couldn’t believe I found one that matched so well.

This was my first attempt using the free-hand quilting foot for my machine.  I’ve got an even-feed foot now as well, so I’ll be trying that out next.

Finished quilt!

Squee!!!!

I can’t believe i am posting pictures of myself TWO DAYS IN A ROW.

I am so not the kind of photogenic that this requires.

Oh well.  You’ll have to suffer my awkwardness to see the dress.

It’s a pattern I’ve made before but am not crazy about.  As in, the finished product is good, but I have to work with next to no instructions and do some heavy altering.  Last time it came out too long, so this time I cut it shorter.  Too short, as it turns out.  But, as it is a summer dress it’s not too terrible.

The fabric is Moda that I got at my local fabric store.

Just about an inch longer and slightly looser in the skirt and it would be perfection.

I’m pretty happy with my zipper installation, though.  Except for a small bit at the top, you can’t see it at all.  Practice, practice.

I had enough fabric left to make a simple A – Line skirt.  It’s on the machine now, waiting for finishing.  I also cut strips to make some bias tape with it for various projects.   If I could have bought this fabric by the bolt, I would have.  The yardage I got was clearly not enough for everything I want to do with it!

A few months back I bought a pattern from Cake Patterns for a dress called “Tiramisu”.

I envisioned a comfortable red dress for summer, and trolled Fabric.com for a good buy on some cotton knits.

I found a color called “Rust” that looked nice online, but when it came ended up being more purpley than red.

But, it felt so nice and soft that even though it was a decidedly more fall color than summer, I decided to forge ahead with it anyway.

And I am SO. GLAD. that I did!

You’ll have to excuse the crappy pictures; I was playing with the self timer on my camera and fighting the fact that there is not one decent place outside to tale pictures where there’s not unsightly overgrowth everywhere (stupid rainy summer).

Also, Susan’s not here to be sure I get some flattering and high quality garment shots, so we’ll just have to deal with what we get.

Also, excuse the dumb look on my face.  Like I said, I was still playing with the timer, and I wasn’t sure it had set.

Or we can all just face the fact that I don’t like posing for pictures.  Not because it isn’t fun, but because I am no good with facial expressions.  In fact, I am pretty sure I have This Condition.

Side View.  Complete with camera glare and thread all over my shoulder!

I have not finished the hem yet as per the instructions on the pattern to wear it a bit first and let the fabric fall and settle a bit.  I also had to take in the size a LOT.

I don’t use knit fabrics a ton, and my first instinct is to generally cut a bit larger than my size, just in case.  With this one, I measured myself and cut to that size, but there was an insane amount of positive ease in this fabric so it ended up hanging on my frame awkwardly.  It’s also a bit heavier weight fabric than I was hoping for, but in combination with the color I think it will be outstanding for fall.  I really want to make more in black, grey and pumpkin color as well as a nice teal if I can get it in a tissue weight.  It’s a great pattern, and now that I have it down to proper size, it’s very flattering and majorly comfortable.   It was also pretty darn easy to put together.

There you have it.

Now go make your own!