The Sewing Goatherd: Confident Summer Will Come

Thursday, May 10, 2018

Confident Summer Will Come

Spring took forever to come this year - we had snow three times in April! Then, when spring finally did come, the days sure warmed up in a hurry. Almost overnight the trees were covered in leaves and the spring flowers have all seemed to bloom at once! We went from wearing coats to wearing tank tops in under a week. Suddenly it was obvious my sister needed some warm weather clothes! Thus, when I had the opportunity to be part of the "Get Ready For Summer" blog tour, and make my sister a summer outfit, I took it!

When I agreed to be part of the blog tour I knew immediately what I wanted to make. My sister has outgrown just about every sundress she owns, so a sundress it would be! I had a floral knit sitting in my stash, just waiting for such a project. All I needed was a pattern.

The pattern was provided by Ellie and Mac Patterns. After a quick glance around their website, I found just the sundress pattern I was looking for. The junior's and women's Be Confident Dress has a tank-top style bodice and a full circle skirt with a hi-low hem. It looked like something my sister would enjoy wearing, while being quick and easy for me to make.

I was right on both accounts. In fact, the dress was almost too quick and easy to make, so I had to change it up a bit! I decided to bind the neck and arm holes, and also add an extra design detail while I was at it.

Rather than cutting the back neckline according to the pattern, I decided to cut it as a V. Then I added ties to it. Just a little extra something to add a bit of detail to an otherwise basic dress.

Those ties fly out beautifully whenever my sister spins! Because, in a dress with a full circle skirt like this, how can you not spin? For that reason, a pair of shorts is a must under this dress :)

Now, when she's not spinning, the skirt is just about the perfect length - right above the knees in the front, and right below in the back. It suits the design, and the girl, perfectly. Unfortunately, this is the longest length included in the pattern for the dress. The pattern contains 7 different skirt lengths; tunic, mini, mid-thigh, petite, regular, tall, and taller. I wasn't sure what length to cut for my sister, but I knew I didn't want the dress to wind up too short! Thus, I cut the skirt out at the longest length, figuring it would be easier to cut fabric off later than add it on.

Well, it's a good thing I cut the skirt the length I did - because I didn't have to shorten it at all! My sister's still growing, and not all that tall yet, only 5'2". So, if I make this dress again for her once she grows a bit more, I'll probably have to add a bit of extra length to the skirt pattern. Thankfully, that's not too much of a problem - but it would be nice if "taller" were just a bit longer!