Stitching with Elli

This dress reminded me of a  toddler in temperament…….super cute but rascally and trouble! Every time I thought I had it all straighten out, another complication came up. It was made with Simplicity pattern 1471. Mostly I liked the pattern but it had some unnecessary complications in the pattern.

The top wasn’t that bad……. The triangle parts at shoulder were slightly confusing  in how they fastened to the yoke front…..it took some sitting and rereading the pattern several times. but I got it figured out….oh and….  I had to go back and fix a few seams, but no huge problems……. The lady bug was super cute, even if it it did barely fit. The rickrack on the very top wasn’t exactly centered but it was the first time I had tried that kind of trim so I was mostly happy with it. oh and…well  the sleeves…..the sleeves were aggravating. It didn’t explain how to do the side seams very well. (It turns out that you don’t really sew them….it just sort of stitches straight on to the skirt lining at the waist.)…okay okay the top was not that easy either!!!

(notice my snack stash while sewing 😉 it is amazing how many jelly beans one can eat while thinking about other things)

The ladybug design came from Embroidery Library, (Doodle lady bug).

And then came the problems with the skirt…..

The pattern said to sew the lining to the bodice.. which I did.

But now how was I to sew on the skirt?!?!? Ummm yeah that took a lot of sitting and re-reading pattern….and holding up skirt to bodice….”AH HA! I’ve got it!!!!…..(pause) “wait…umm no that doesn’t work….” it took a while.

But I decided it would work if I laid the bodice inside the skirt (right sides together) and the lining sticking up above

The when I folded the skirt down the seam would be on the inside. Great problem solved! umm wait nooooo it isn’t.

If I start stitching it this way I’m going to stitch the back of the bodice to the front of the bodice. That is definitely not acceptable.

Uhhhhh….

ummmm…..

staring at machine and fabric….(why did I do this pattern anyway???? why couldn’t they have just had me sew on the lining AFTER the skirt! maybe I should just rip it out and do it that way? NO! I’m going to figure this out!)

AH ha! I got it!  heh heh thought you could confuse me did you?? well you didn’t you silly pattern I figured it out! 😀

I took off the little removable table thing on the machine so I could stick the arm of the machine thru the dress and sew it in a circle.

DONE!! whew!!!

It came out a lot longer than I thought it would. I may have to put a tuck in it to fit the baby better. So you never know I may get the “toddler attitude” dress back on my machine soon 😉