Daisy Dress

 Lately I have really been getting back into sewing.  I am the kind of person who has to immerse herself into something in order to motivate myself do it.  I have been watching a lot of You Tube channels on sewing to get motivated.  One of my new favorites is Rosery Apparel.  After watching a number of her videos, I decided to buy the Rosa Dress and Daisy Dress.  This is the finished Daisy Dress. @Roseryapparel

I did a few adjustments, such as a FBA and Forward neck adjustment.  It is also shorter than the intended length.

Also, this fabric is my new favorite.  I happened to be in Paso Robles a few weeks ago and found Birch Street Fabrics.  They have a great selection of organic cotton and Rayon.  They have a few other fabrics as well.  The ladies that work there were very helpful and friendly.  I was surprised to find out that this is the same business as Fabricworm.com.  I love the feel of this cotton.  It is a poplin, and although a little heavier than lawn, it has the same finish.  It has enough body that you could make a more structured garment (shirt, dress, shorts) but enough drape that it handles gathers.  

Our local JoAnns has a terrible supply of buttons right now, so I've started haunting Etsy and other websites looking for unique buttons.  These are simple, but beautiful wooden buttons that I found on Etsy.  I am very pleased with them and I think they work perfectly with this dress.

I did do a FBA on this dress, but using the smaller size as a starting point made the armholes too tight.  Next time I will cut the armholes in a little bit and lower them.  In fact, I am seriously considering taking the sleeves off and re-cutting the armholes.

One thing I love about this dress is that it has Pockets!

I did not have enough fabric to make this dress.  The pattern calls for 4-3/8 of 45" fabric and I only had 3 yards.  I Made it work by shortening the skirt about 8", cutting the sleeve about 1" less full, and cutting the front facing out of another fabric.  

The daisy dress has 3 sleeve options.  An elastic bottom puff sleeve, a shirred puffed sleeve, and sleeveless.  I decided to try the shirred option.  My sewing machine does not work well with shirring, so I have an OLD Pfaff that I use.  I have an extra bobbin casing that I have adjusted to work with shirring. ( i marked that case with fingernail polish so that I won't accidentally try to use it for regular sewing.). The shirring still didn't look like I gathered it up enough, but once you put some heat and steam on it, it shrink s right up.

All in all, I love this dress.  I am hoping to make the sleeveless version soon.