Here is one of Victoria's Easter
dresses. She found the hat online at
Divine Fashions
and just had to have it. Then she was delighted to find the
matching shoes. One day last week, we went off to The Fabric Shop,
a local store that sells all sorts of fancy fabric (but no quilting
cotton), hat in hand, and found green satin just like the flower and
band on the hat (see below).
I used a new Simplicity pattern
called 'Vintage 50s'. The sizes stated on the back of the pattern
were exactly the same as the pattern I used for Victoria's red dress, so
I cut the size eight and sewed it together. Big mistake.
Saturday evening, she tried it on.
After a lengthy wait, I heard a
muffled, "Helllllp!" and went to see what the trouble was.
There was Victoria, stuck quite
soundly in her dress, arms straight up.
This dress buttons in the front.
The opening stops at the waist, and there is a side zipper. But
she couldn't get it on.
"Why didn't you stop?!" I
exclaimed.
"Well, I kept
thinking if I just wriggled a little more..." explained Victoria.
With a good deal of effort, I
extracted her from the dress. I threw in the towel that night, but
launched in again Tuesday, plying a seam ripper whose blade has gotten
decidedly dull. Somebody must be borrowing it from me; I can't
possibly have gotten it that dull all by myself. Can I?
After adding gussets to both sleeves
and both sides of the bodice, reinserting the zipper, and cutting an
opening and inserting a continuous lap at the front of the skirt, it
fits. Almost. The sleeves aren't quite right, she can't lift
her arms very high, and the seams are scratchy. I've now cut satin
facings for the sleeve hems, and will put them on tomorrow.
Perhaps I'll cover the sleeve seams with ribbon.
Here are Victoria's hat and shoes:
And this is the pattern that should
have been cut as a 12 instead of an 8, never mind the fact that
other size 8s fit her perfectly, whether bought or sewn:
And heeeeere she is:
