MMJ Days 2 to 3 and the “blue and white parasol” dress

Made Me June 

I’m sorry today’s post is late. I’d been busy these couple of days preparing for my boy’s fifth birthday celebration at his school and we had so much fun this afternoon with fifteen five-year olds:)

I was so preoccupied with shopping for the birthday goody bags yesterday that I only found time to snap this shot last evening. It was rather cloudy by then.

day 2. thursday. sunny with a light drizzle. 24 to 32 degrees celsius

Outfit: The Explorer Outfit

Hours worn: 10 hours

Places visited: Kids’ schools, Spotlight, Daiso, Carrefour and Tea Cosy at Plaza Singapura.

Main activities: Shopping for and packing my son’s birthday goody bags

Number of times I have worn the outfit: I’ve lost count! Too many times

Wear Again: Absolutely! Comfy and weather perfect! I am convinced I need another of this outfit.

day 3. friday. sunny. 24 to 33 degrees celsius

Dress: Festivity Macaron.  I am happy that I wore this bright and cheery dress to celebrate my boy’s birthday.

Even though he readily eats corns, long beans and carrots, my son detests leafy vegetables and has been telling us that he would start eating them when he turns five. I’m very skeptical that it will materialize but let’s wait and see. If you have any tips on getting kids to love vegetables, please let me know

My son is a transformer fan. He is turning into a little collector of these toys and spends quite a bit of time honing his logic skills with his attempts to transform them from vehicle to robot and back. So, it wasn’t surprising that he asked for either an Optimus Prime or Bumblebee cake. I found a home bakery that created this amazing 3D Optimus Prime cake which all the boys loved! My boy couldn’t take his eyes off the cake. It turned out to be soft and yummy and not too sweet, which was great!

Hours worn: 6 hours

Places visited: Kids’ schools

Main activities: Singing the birthday tune with fourteen other kids!

Number of times I have worn the dress: 3

Wear Again: Yes. I adore the dress and love the colors but strangely I don’t wear it enough. I think it’s a little too loud for daily wear and can be too bright and overwhelming at times. The cut and fit are absolutely comfortable.  I have been thinking of another version of this dress for a long time but is waiting for the right fabric combination to appear in my life.

The Sew Weekly Challenge

This week for The Sew Weekly Challenge, we attempt to sew the perfect summer dress. My TSW post can be found here.

The Pattern Review

I used a mail order pattern 3257 from the Kansas City Star. My first mail order pattern and it was postage dated in 1958. I love that I can see history through my love for sewing.

The pattern pieces though unprinted are sound but I was somewhat disappointed with the mock pockets and the lack of instructions. I was quite sad that even the buttons at the back of the dress were embellishments so instead of following the original side zipper, I moved the zipper to the back and drafted a placket for the buttons. I also used pocket pattern pieces from another pattern to create real usable pockets for my version.

To ensure that stripes matched as best as I could, I cut each pattern pieces individually and placed them next to each other before cutting to ensure stripes matched. I had to take in the sides of the bodice quite a bit. To get the stripes to still match while taking in the seams, I hand baste the seams while checking that the stripes matched before machine stitching. A little tedious but pretty effective.

The Gallery

I am so loving this dress and will definitely be wearing it out again soon!

I’m still working out my pillowcase project for next week’s challenge (There’s so much to unpick before sewing even began hahaha) and if you have extra pillow cases in your storeroom, why not take them out and join us for this challenge?

Blessed weekend everyone!