Saturday, June 12, 2010

Pushing Daisies dress


A while back, I picked up a copy of the reissued version of the walkaway dress that everyone's been talking about. The reviews I'd seen were mixed, but it looked SO cute on the package that I had to try it. Plus I think it's so cool that just after it originally came out (in the 50s? 60s? I can't remember), it was so popular that Butterick stopped production on all other patterns just to keep up with the demand.

It's called the "walkaway dress" because it's so simple, you can start it in the morning and walk away wearing it by lunch. In my case, I started it Wednesday evening, did pretty much nothing but work on it for two days, and finished it last night (Friday). But I am a slow, if not particularly fastidious, sewer. And when I found the pattern, the smallest size they carried was 4 sizes too big for me, and I was too impatient to wait for the next shipment so I bought it anyway. (And then let it sit in my stack of patterns for over a year.) So it took a lot of pinning, trying it on, re-pinning, trying it on, etc. to get it to fit at all right.


It's cute, but I'm not sure I'll ever wear it. It hangs a little funny when I move, and I feel like I need to constantly adjust it. Right now I'm in that uncomfortable in-between phase of having a few finishing touches to add, but not really wanting to bother because I know I won't wear it and additional effort will just be wasted time.

I think I need to stay away from making my own clothes. Accessories I can handle, and I'm a whiz at household items, but I have a LOT of trouble getting clothing to drape in a way I like. And because I buy all my clothes thrifted, it's easy for me to maintain an affordable wardrobe full of things I really, really like. It would be nice to have more "Chuck" dresses, but I think I'll just keep my eye out for vintage pieces at nicer second hand shops.

Bleh, it's so deflating to finish a time consuming project and then be less than thrilled with the finished product. Whatever I do next has to be a sure bet, results-wise.

Love, J

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