Mister kindly donated a few of his cast-offs to my project pile. I used his sweater for dryer balls (amazing), and now one of his swanky Billy Reid knit shirts has become a playdress for Bama.
I used the fantastic Dana's easy-to-follow recipe for altering a shirt. Goodness, she makes sewing painless. This, for me, is important, because I don't really know how to sew. I mean, I do, but in the "I took a class and made pajama bottoms" kind of way. I can follow patterns, I can seam, and as I sew more, my confidence rises (as it should) so I try new things.
But, let's face it, there's a lot in my sewing kit I don't understand, like silk thread. Why do I have silk thread? It's the only one of its kind in my kit, and it was the only color for this project. Does knitwear love silk? Probably not. Good thing she will be in and out of this dress in a year.
I haven't elasticized the sleeves and am not sure I will. Also, given the enormous button band on the front of the dress, I won't be adding the horizontal ribbon and elastic. I didn't hem the bottom and don't think I need to.
What I did: French seams on the side, yes I did. Why not? It doesn't add that much to a project like this and looks much better. I should have done the shoulders, as well, but was feeling lazy. Hand-closed the front after feeding the elastic through (19.5, sewn with 1/2" overlap, so about 18.5") because I couldn't machine stitch the fold-over. Silk thread, don't fail me now. You can barely see it in the grey.
Word on the street is she loves the dress. I think it feels comfortable and breezy. She likes the fluttery sleeves. It looks a little like a sleep-shirt, but accessories like shoes, and twin babies in a stroller, kick it up a notch.
