Sewing FO: Vogue V1348 It's all about the petticoat

This dress is sewn from Vogue patterns V1348. I love the print of this fabric. It reminds of either (1) an abstract painting, (2) a child's finger painting project, or (3) a house painter's well used drop cloth. It's also 100% linen, which I love. The skirt lining consists of two tiers of ruffles, which forms a petticoat. I decided that since it has a petticoat, I might as well let it show at the hem. Instead of using a narrow hem for the bottom tier, I cut it twice as high and folded it for a double layer. It's cut from as very light weight lawn cotton, as is the rest of the lining. The pattern calls for underlining the bodice pieces, but I skipped that since my linen is a medium weight and I didn't want any more thickness. The underlining is also used to tack down the top edges of the pleats, but the dress is fine without the tacking.

Now all I need a is a great summer party to wear this to -- too bad summer is almost over!

Sewing FO: Butterick B5347

This a great easy-wearing summer dress from Butterick B5347. This is view A using two neckline buttons instead of one and using my own pocket design. The fabric is a medium weight cotton with some lycra for a bit of stretch. Because it stretches, I can pull the dress over my head easily so I omitted the back zipper -- woo-hoo! I wanted something more exciting than square patch pockets so I came up with this angled and pleated pocket and the pleat is held in place by a button, sort of echoing the front neckline. The dress is unlined so it's great for hot weather.

The trickiest part of this dress is getting the front pleat just so. The amount and angle of the fold is sort of body specific -- you have to try the dress on and keeping pinning the pleat until you like how everything drapes. I used two buttons because I found that the extra button keeps the front tucked in a little better. This is actually the third rendition of this pattern. I made the first dress in pure cotton and a second dressy version in silk. Both of the those have the cap sleeves and for the dressy one I used three front buttons to give it even more shaping.