Birthday Dress #12!

Simplicity 2444

My daughter's birthday is coming up next week, and it is time to make her annual birthday dress.  She wanted another Simplicity 2444, and since that is an easy dress to make, I was pretty happy.  The only thing we needed to decide was which fabric to use.  I let her look through my collection, letting her know that if she didn't find anything, we'd shop for something.  She chose a silky poly double border print that I bought a few weeks ago, liking it, but not knowing what I'd do with it.  She really liked it and I was happy to let her have it.

I got the dress cut out yesterday afternoon, after a little playing with the pieces to make it all work.  I cut the hem and the shoulders with the heaviest part of the border print - closest to the edges of the fabric.  The skirt has an a-line shape, so I straightened the side seams a bit, taking out some of the fulness, so that it would work better with the border print, rather than having it curve upward at the side seams. 

I decided to underline just the bodice with some leftover black batiste from the Wedding Suit.  It was easy enough to cut extra bodice pieces, layer them with the fashion fabric and use them as one piece during construction.

I felt that the poly silky needed just a little more support, especially with all the darts.  The underlining also helped to stabilize the armholes and waist seam, stress points in the dress.  Remember, my daughter isn't an adult quite yet and I'm not exactly sure what she'll put this dress through. 

This really is an easy dress, as far as construction.  So far, I've got the main portion of the dress assembled  and the sleeve prepared.  I still need to add sleeves, a zipper, neck facing and hem.  I'll get those things done on Wednesday or Thursday.

Tomorrow I will not be posting, as the children and I are taking a trip to NYC to see the King Tut exhibit at the Discovery Times Square Exhibition.

Parting Shot:  Approval.  I can't put a piece of fabric down for 5 minutes without one or other of the cats thinking they need to show their appreciation and approval of my latest fabric choices.  This piece wasn't out of the dryer and onto the ironing board 5 minutes before Wellie decided to get comfy.  Seriously, I walked out of the studio to get my camera and there he was!