Dia de Los Muertos Sundress

Because, you know, nothing says "sunshine" like celebrating the dead. :) I made this sundress from scratch without a pattern and actually pretty pleased with the way it turned it out. (And look at how long my hair is! I am getting it cut and colored tonight, thank goodness!)

For the bottom, I sewed 2 panels together at 44" long at and did a double-fold 1" hem. I just used the width of the fabric since I am a big girl and the dimensions are perfect to be loose around my caboose.

For the top, I cut a piece that was 10" long and the width of the fabric. This was my first attempt at shirring/smocking and I was surprised at how easy it actually was! The "toughest" part was winding the bobbins with elastic thread and that was really just time consuming. When I was finished hemming the top of the panel and did the shirring, the panel was 9" long x 26" wide. The back panel is just solid and is 9" x 22". I sewed a couple of straps on the top to roughly cover my bra straps. I am sure that some will notice that the lines in my shirring are not even but I actually did this on purpose since I like the look of a few lines that are closer together mixed throughout the smocking.

I rarely bare my upper arms in public so made the black shrug out of an old black t-shirt by cutting it off just above my natural waist line. I cut about halfway up the center and then cut an upside-down teardrop shape to open the neckline and remove the collar. I put it on and just tied the 2 corners together.

In the top picture, you can see the black patch pocket I added. I used a piece of the t-shirt I had left over from making the shrug but forgot that I tend to carry a lot in my pockets so need to replace it with a pocket that doesn't stretch.

Again, I do have other projects that I have made since the last post but really need to get pictures of them. I happened to wear this to work today so took pictures of it here. This is another of those items I've made that makes me feel girly. :)