Simplicity 2416 - Yellow tiered maxi skirt

Unless you're new around here, you probably know that I love all things yellow. For some reason though, I don't have much of it in my closet. I buy lots of yellow fabrics, but then don't make them up because I'm afraid of making a mistake. However, I've now decided to put an end to this silly behavior! This stretch linen/cotton blend is a recent purchase from Fashionfabricsclub.com that I got for a different pattern and then realized I'd bought 3 yards of it by mistake. I could either make that other dress and have over a yard left over, or I could make this skirt up and have tiny scraps left over. And boy did I have to squeeze the pattern pieces onto my 3 yards. (The envelope called for 3 5/8 yards.)

I tried out the maxi skirt trend with this dress and liked it so much I wanted a skirt as well. This pattern has been in my stash for years and is still in print if you are interested. Because of the way the pieces are cut, it's fitted through the hips and very full around the hem. I also really like the side seams.

On this side the skirt meets in peaks. On the other side the horizontal lines are unbroken.

This is a straight size 10. I added 1.5" to the top of the waist in order to use a more substantial 1" elastic and make a small ruffle along the top.

This was a fun pattern to make up. I plan to make the shorter version sometime as well.

NewLook 6615 revisited - Blue charmeuse butterfly dress

This is my second time using this pattern, the first was made 4 years ago right when I started my blog. I still like that first dress for the most part, especially all the hand sewn embroidery around the neck and ribcage. What I don't like about it anymore are the puff sleeves and back tie. It gets worn about once a year.

For this dress, I was wanting something a bit more modern. This polyester charmeuse bought from JoAnn's was a really large print, and I went looking through my stash for a pattern that would show off some of those huge butterflies. Plus, as I'd already made this, there was no muslining needed.

I made the sleeveless version with the topstitching all along the neckline and ribcage. This is a straight size 12, but would have been a better fit in the bust in a size 10.

Instead of ties in the back, I made a fabric casing on the inside and put in 3 rows of 3/8" elastic. I also tried to match the back seam so that the butterflies on the back would not be cut up. I made a slight miscalculation and there's a tiny bit of fabric twinning that I'm pretty sure nobody will notice.

Cutting this out was the hardest part. I wanted to balance the colors on the top, so I cut one side with lighter colors and the other side darker. Then I had to balance the colors of all those bands. I didn't want any twinning or any of the butterfly's spots centered over a bust apex. Whew!

I always enjoy topstitching and used brown heavy duty Coats & Clark polyester thread. My bobbin thread was not heavy duty.

Here you can see the slight fabric twinning. Argh! I'm really not sure how that happened. Strangely this does not bother me that much. Perhaps I'm relaxing my perfectionism.

The unpictured insides were sewn using french seams and the armholes finished off with bias tape. I really wanted this to be an easy summer dress to throw on and launder so I left off any thoughts of lining it. However, this fabric clings to my skin forcing me to wear a slip. And a slip is not something I like to throw on during the hot summer. Now this dress is more of a date night/church dress.

Here's a picture of baby Rachel giggling out the door at us during our photo session. I do have a dress I made her last month that I still need to take some pictures of. Hopefully I can get to that this week.