Wearing That Bridesmaid Dress Again

Earlier this summer I had the pleasure of being a bridesmaid for my good friend Maggie. Being the considerate soul she is, Maggie decided not to pick out expensive bridesmaid dresses for us to buy—instead she consulted with one of us about what shades of lime green were acceptable, and picked out a cheap polyester fabric. Five meters of green, a bit of brown trim, and thirty dollars later, we were all set to make or commission the knee-length dress of our choice.

I made my dress using Made by Rae's Washi Dress pattern (see my practice dress here), and I loved it. It was flattering and comfy and cool. AND it had pockets. But once my friends were safely married and the dress was hanging in my closet, the bright, solid colour just carried that unmistakeable whiff of Bridesmaid. Nothing wrong with that in and of itself, but it does make a dress less wearable in the real world.

Luckily, with such a casual fabric, I knew the problem could be solved by simply breaking up the solid-ness of the colour. Enter embroidery floss and buttons:

I love circle motifs, so I grabbed a few glasses and containers of different sizes and traced them onto the fabric. See the faint pencil lines?

Then I embroidered along the lines using a running stitch, sewed on some judicious buttons, and added a little more embroidery along the waistband and collar.

Let's look a little closer.

Okay, time for details.

I'm not going to say this was a quick fix, because it did take many hours of work, but those were also hours spent cuddled in front of the TV, so it was a very relaxing job.

And now it's done! I get to wear it! I love that part.

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Despicable Crochet

I don't know about the rest of the country, but here in Toronto the weather took one look at the calendar and said, "It's September now. Time for autumn." The summer heat has disappeared, the days are dawning clear and chill, and the breeze seems fresh even downtown.

It's beautiful.

I fully intended to enjoy the weather and the free time on the Labour Day long weekend, and had lots of half-formed plans relating to my garden and my sewing machine. Instead, perversely, I was sick the whole time. Oh, well, you can't have everything.

It was looking like I wasn't going to have a single crafty thing to show for my three-day weekend, which was quite depressing, and I was glumly scrolling through Pinterest when my boyfriend looked over my shoulder.

"Make me that," he said.

He was kidding, but the crocheted minion he was pointing to (à la Despicable Me) looked simple enough. And you don't need health or energy to crochet. I sent him to find my yellow yarn.

Two episodes of Torchwood later (that show does not satisfy the Doctor Who cravings), I had this:

It isn't a new dress or a weed-free garden, but it's fun and it made someone smile. And when you've been sick down in the dumps for three days, that's a good feeling. Better, I'd say, than the new dress.

But I'm still hoping to do some real sewing this weekend.

How about you?