Second Thoughts... and Third Thoughts

I always had it in mind to use Simplicity 1538 for this fabric but the day I cut it I was wearing an old McCall's 4922 and impulsively decided that I wanted to use that pattern instead. Then the day after I cut it I wore the Simplicity 1538 and wished I had stuck with my original plan. But it's okay. It's another one of those things that I like much better when I'm just wearing it and not looking at pictures of myself wearing it.

It was 80°F and extremely windy yesterday when these were taken.

It has a relaxed fit, which seems a little bit wrong for something with princess seams (or maybe it's just too large?) and somehow it overemphasizes my pear shape. I wish I had stuck with my original plan but, as I said, I like it just fine when I'm wearing it. I love the colors, which are a bit brighter in person.

Here's one more pic just because cat.

I Am Not a Princess

I have always liked princess seamed dresses. (and blouses but especially dresses) I had one when I was six years old that my mother made. It was dark red with some kind of tiny geometric print and had long, straight sleeves and a high neckline and buttoned down the front. I loved it. It seemed to me that it was a very grown-up style dress. Sadly though, as a grown-up I have always felt that princess seams don't do me any favors. However, a few years ago I decided to make peace with my physical imperfections. (well, to try to at least) Concealing them under sack-like clothes doesn't really help. And after trying a few princess seamed blouses and dresses, I've decided that the style really doesn't look too bad on me?

Anyway... The local quilt shop had a sale on batiks recently. This lovely green came home with me and let me know almost right away that it needed to be a princess seamed dress. I used a blouse pattern, McCall's 6076 and lengthened and flared it out into a dress and left off the sleeves and added pockets.

Everything in my yard is very green right now. I thought I should pick something not green for a background. Here's a closer look at one of the pockets: (You might have noticed my phone in the other pocket. Of course, that's why I must have pockets.)

I'm kind of loving it. I love the colors and it's comfortable. Maybe a little bit old-fashioned house-dressy (which isn't really a bad thing) but also kind of nice.