Seersucker + Chambray

4.06.2015


While I've spent the last two years trying to be more intentional about sewing from my stash, there is now a sense of urgency behind these efforts since I'll most likely be unemployed come the middle of June.  And not only unemployed but also racking up student loan debt.  Ah, the great American dream.


In any case, while I've always tried to be pretty sensible about not dropping too much money on fabric and patterns (with varied success), it's pretty clear that I need to make some changes in how I approach picking my projects.  Lately I've begun to dig through the stash trying to sort out the scraps from the larger pieces of fabric that can actually be made into a garment.  So many of the pieces that I have are fairly small so imagine my surprise when I found two pieces that were actually big enough to sew a dress from.  And it was an even better surprise when I saw just how cute these fabrics look together.  The chambray and seersucker make for an awfully cute preppy dress.


The chambray's leftover from this top and the seersucker's is left over from this dress.  The piping around the waist is also left over from some unknown project  and the zipper was shoved in the back of my cupboard no doubt from some long-ago discarded project.


I kind of felt like one of the little mice putting together leftover bibs and bobs for a dress for Cinderella to wear to the ball.  A scrap of fabric here, a zipper there, and ta-da!  A dress!  And, of course, it's a Hanami Dress because that pattern holds a special place in my heart.


Sure, it's no ball gown but I happen to love it all the same.

10 comments:

  1. I hear ya on trying to spend less money on fabric. Your girl looks near the same age as mine (4 and 5) and I have also found that I need to get sewing up all those smaller cuts of fabric that I bought when they were younger and I could get a whole dress out of a yard! Great use of your scraps.

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  2. Oh, I love this!!! What a great use of small pieces! Yeah, we're feeling the pain at my place too - I'm still employed, but we've had a lot of big house and car expenses recently and we are B.R.O.K.E. I realize the money I'm spending on fabric every month would be better spent on you know, shoes for my kiddos? Or me? Or at least, beer to dull the pain of money stress? Anyway, I'm trying to see this as a creative opportunity to stash bust, and so far, it has been fun, but I can feel the lure of all the pretty new patterns and fabrics ...

    The Hanami!! A great pattern I had kind of forgotten about, to be honest! I love it with the two contrasting fabrics here, too! Very fresh!

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  3. I love your hanimi! It is perfect! I would not have thought to put those two fabrics together and I love to see fabrics combined in a way I would not have imagined! So awesome! And these photos! <3 Always love a blog post from you!

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  4. i love it too! those fabrics are a perfect pairing, you worked your magic for sure! O is adorable and so grown up!!

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  5. O, that hair, that dress - these photos just look so timeless. Love. And yeah, brokesville here too. At least I have access to almost unlimited fabric of my own choosing though, mwah ha ha haaaaaahhhh. Shame it won't fix the leak in the roof though. Ignore, sew, la la laaa.

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  6. Love this dress - your fabric choices are perfect! I'd forgotten the Hanami too - must make one before Lucy grows out of it.
    And ahhh....money....we had a terrible patch a year or so ago, and my husband was made redundant about 6 weeks ago, so I can relate too...I shall cross my fingers that you find a new job quickly

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  7. Wow -- what a great fabric combo! I've never felt a strong urge to try the Hanami . . . until now . . .

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  8. Wow -- what a great fabric combo! I've never felt a strong urge to try the Hanami . . . until now . . .

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  9. Great color combination! The chambray is lovely and seersucker seems perfect for spring. I'm trying to sew from what I have around here as well. Partly to save money and partly due to total lack of storage space. Sadly I have so many prints in my stash and few solids.

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  10. way way cute! and hey, i just made a hanami for easter, my first! and i love it! still have to get official blog photos though.

    good for you for sewing from the stash and making a super great dress out of it! good luck with the unemployment part...hope that's short lived. :/

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