March Stashbusting - in April

Hello spring (I think, finally), and hello again stashbusting! Now, the March theme was "impending seasonal change", and let me just say, we're still waiting. But I dutifully pulled a fabric out of my stash, and got to work. 

This is a fabric that I picked up over a year ago, and have been struggling to find a good use for ever since. It's a beautiful cotton with a multicoloured wool/silk strand striped through. I settled on a simple sqare-ish dress, and was really hoping to use an existing pattern, so I tried turning the Colette Patterns Sencha into a dress. No go, friends, no go. The front neck, which I lowered, still insisted on sliding backwards, as if to choke me. And it was a bit of a sack, with or without the darts. I cut the back on the fold to avoid having a seam or closure (I can get both versions of the blouse over my head without undoing any buttons), and extended the hem to knee length. And then I went pattern shopping. That was March.

In April, Vogue 8805 arrived in the mail, a pullover dress with multiple cup sizes to choose from. For a bit of contrast, I cut the bodice widthways to have my stripes meet up on the perpendicular. It too was a bit sack-like, so I added two tucks front and back to give it a bit of shape. And since my fabric was striped (and I was recutting anyway!) I cut the bottom two pieces as one. The only other alteration I made was shortening the sleeve about 1". I'd say this was a case of tweaking, not making drastic changes. As for sizing, I cut a 14, one size down from the pattern envelope recommendation.

Here I am pretending to be warm.

Don't be fooled - the bare legs are for the photos only! It was maybe 6 C.

The back has a small silt that closes with a hook and eye, which has already been stuck in my hair. 

I'm not sure how much wear this will get, but I do love the fabric. But, what with Me Made May coming up, it should get a couple of outings at least.

And speaking of Me Made May,

I, Chloe of Button and Needle, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May 2013! I endeavour to wear one or more pieces of Me Made Clothing each day for the duration of May 2013.

Looking forward to a month of fun, and hopefully far fewer repeats than last year. This year I'm starting with at least double the number of me-mades to work with, and May will see more sewing time, so I'm ready to go!

See you all soon,