Oh, and I made this dress.

January 27, 2010 · Filed under I knit. (and crochet), I sew., I thrift. A lot. · Tagged Amy Butler, Denyse Schmidt Prairie Rose New Day - Hope Valley, Liverpool Dress, shirtdress

This past weekend found me retreating with friends to sew and thrift and sew and sew and giggle and sew some more.  We also ate and slept, but minimally, when our energy levels could not sustain further sewing.  We were so hard core.  Such behavior is the inevitable result of mixing a cabin in the woods, project to-do lists disproportionate to free time, and a handful of women prone to motherhood.

I found myself in a harmonious collaboration with Amy Butler and Denyse Schmidt.  Amy supplied the pattern.   Denyse supplied the fabric.  I supplied the delirious manual labor.  Together, we made this dress.

I finished tracing the pattern and cut out the fabric on Saturday morning.  The final stitches and pearl snaps were applied before 10pm.  In between there was a second thrifting run, some meals, lots of chit chat and a couple exclamations of “Oh Amy, (Butler) you clever thing!”  Having trained in my Grandma’s school of sewing, where the inside of a garment should look as nice and finished as the outside, I was so pleased with the nice finishing details of the pattern.  And how did you know, Amy, that I had been searching for months for a shirtdress pattern like this?  It was exactly what I wanted and turned out perfectly. I hope to collaborate with such fine company again.

Winning the award for 1st Project Completed and also Most Time Squandered Deciphering Placket Incongruities was the aforementioned Square Dance Shirt.

I hand sewed this poignant strip of fabric to a bag thrifted at the last crafty retreat, a bag which now totes the sewing arsenal to and fro.

I even cast on yet another knitting project.  Do I even remember how to knit?  Barely – it’s been a while.  The yarn is alpaca, and it’s a pretty compelling argument for getting an alpaca or two of our own.  But those sweeties aren’t cheap.