Sharon Sews

With apologies to the musical Grease , which is playing in the background as I write this post... The great Minnesota Get-Together, aka the state fair , begins in two days. Which means summer is drawing to an end. Which in turn means summer sewing is drawing to an end. At least in this household. The warm weather will disappear quickly in the next month or so and it just doesn't make sense for me to spend what precious little time I have to sew on clothing that will be immediately packed away for a year. I did manage to get a number of projects sewn for the summer, including my new all time favorite dress. My husband is probably getting tired of seeing me wear it to work and to church and to get-togethers and to...well you get the picture. It's definitely my go-to dress and I should have taken the time to sew one more. That being said, I do think I'll have time to eke out one more summer dress. Just not the same one. This time a lovely Kay Unger design - Vogue 1183 .

As promised in my previous post , here's a step-by-step tutorial for sewing this doll dress. The dress is one I designed and sewed (many, many times) in the 1970s. I scanned my original pattern pieces, which means they aren't perfect - you'll see the pin holes and slightly crooked solid lines. But that kinda adds to the charm don't you think? The document is a PDF and you can download it here . I have it set to print on a 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper. To help you determine if it's printing out the correct size, the bottom edge of the skirt pattern measures 6-7/8". The dress is view 4 shown in the upper right corner of this pattern envelope. Supplies : Lightweight cotton or cotton-blend fabric remnant (I used a portion of a fat quarter) Lace—15” Thread Snaps Cut out the dress: 1 - bodice front on fold 1 - skirt on fold 2—bodice back 2—sleeves Notes: Seam allowances are a scant 1/4”. Sewing a larger seam could result in a dress that is too small for y

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there lived a young girl. This young girl had a very active imagination and expressed it in many creative ways. She liked to draw. And paint. And read. And dance. And stage plays. And laugh. And sew. And sew. And sew. Most of all this young girl liked to make up clothing designs. Her family didn't have very much money so she designed clothes for her younger sister's Barbie dolls. She studied the patterns for contemporary clothing in her own size then drew patterns in doll size. She drew her patterns on scrap paper her mother brought home from her office job. She carefully marked darts and stitching lines and center fronts and center backs. She even "packaged" her patterns into sets. The scrap paper envelopes were carefully illustrated with her designs. As this young girl grew older she became a mother and a career woman. She found she had less time to draw. And paint. And read. And dance. And stage plays. But she still found