it worked! tiered sundress done.

I used my new gathering foot for the tiers on this sundress (which, it turns out, may not even be necessary if you just use your regular foot with a long stitch length and crank up your tension- urgh. Thank you for that tip also, Megan). I also knuckled under and used a pattern, a departure from my original brave 'wing it' plan. I decided if I was going to gather 3 miles of material, it had better be wearable, so I sacrificed one tier from my original vision and used the pattern.


All went well, with the usual stop to take 2 inches out of the width of the bodice. Also, I ran out of brown fabric, so I cut all the tiers an inch less deep. Then I noticed the skirt was becoming really really FULL. The last tier seemed to go on forever, and I started to get a bit worried I'd messed up. The skirt seemed to have moved out of the realm of A-line tiers and into the realm of Mama Cass. I just can't believe the blond cutey pictured on the pattern cover (above) is actually wearing a dress made from the same pattern. Look how NOT full it is. I double checked my measurements, thinking I must have cut out twice what I was supposed to. Nope.



Oh, well. Thing One actually loves the voluminous skirt, and it does look pretty cute on her. She'll need to wear leggings or shorts under it because when she does twirl it pretty much flies up to her head.


I thought it needed a little sumpm sumpm, so I made a fabric flower pin for the bodice using my flower card template, enlarged 148%. I fused 6 charm squares together, back to back with Heat N Bond Lite, giving me 3 two-sided pieces of fabric. Then I cut the flower petals out of those and used the sewing machine to pinch each layer in the middle for some depth. Then I sewed the layers together with a fabric covered button in front, and a pin on the back so I can take it off to wash the dress.

When I make this again for Thing Two, I'll be taking some fullness out of the tiers and making the bodice a bit longer. LOVING the one-step gathering, gathering foot or no. It has opened up new realms of possibility for me. I sit here and think of all the patterns I love but have avoided until now because of the hand gathering...Yay!