A little birdie told me...

that I finished another dress!

I finished this little birdie summer dress today! I think it is my favorite so far, and it fits me to a tee! It's made from Simplicity 2588 with the flared skirt, designer tabs, and neckband options. On the skirt there is a center front pleat, two more on each side of this pleat, two back pleats, 22" zipper, princess bodice seams, and back bodice darts. It went together rather quickly and nicely, until I accidentally cut a big hole in the skirt with my pinking shears. I had to patch it up, but it hides in a fold in the back of the skirt.

Here's a little close up of the green buttons on the tabs:

It was one of the first beautiful days of Spring here in Michigan, so my housemate suggested that we head over to Grand Haven and have a walk on the boardwalk. What a perfect opportunity to break in my new dress!

We took a stroll to the lighthouse:

And then we decided to climb some big rocks down to the beach... which I was not properly dressed for, but conquered anyway:

Unfortunately for the pedestrians around, it was windy and I was bent over maneuvering throughout the rocks. I had to try and tuck my skirt between my legs, but to no avail:

So my new dress went out on an adventure not even an hour after it was completed. I really recommend this pattern to anyone looking for something cute and simple for summer. Its a project runway inspiration pattern so there are a ton of options including a slim skirt, a few different types of sleeves, and a yoke that will suit anyone!

Simplicity design contest- my drawing woes

What a cruel joke it was to be graced with a creative and ever-working mind, but to have no way to communicate it to paper. I have so many good ideas and beautiful things that I envision, but lack the neccessary (well, any really...) drawing skills to get it down for the rest of the world to see. There is a wonderful design contest going on by simplicity that I would love to get in on. I have a few of the project runway patterns that they have put out, and there really isn't much to them. I think it would be a piece of cake to design something for the collection. All I'd have to do is enter a submission inspired by project runway, which I think I could easily do. I always have ideas swimming around, so if only I could easily catch one and play with it on paper, see it come to life a bit. I'm going to try and take a drawing class this summer at my university, but you have to be an art and design major in order to enroll in them, even the intro level ones, so we'll see if I can give the puppy eyes to a professor and weasel my way in.