Sewing: Village Frock Dress

I was bound and determined to finish this Village Frock dress for Audrey in time to wear to church today! I ordered the pattern from Sugar City and cut out the dress last Fall to match Scarlett's portrait dress for our family photos, but alas, I ran out of time and was lucky to finish Scarlett's dress in time. Since then this dress has sat in my project drawer practically forgotten. Christmas and some other things too precedent (not to mention morning sickness).



So I finally pulled out this week to finish. March is very tempermental here so there are plenty of cool days to justify a Fall-ish dress, but April seems to demand spring-like colors. So I used what little spare time and sparse energy I could find and I did it!


But not without a bit of drama, and some irony to go along with it. So first the drama: I was working away during Scarlett's nap yesterday afternoon to take advantage of that little break to get something done. It had been snowing all day but nothing serious, nothing was accumulating on the streets. Scarlett woke up and my plan was to put her in the car and run to the fabric store for the three buttons-to-cover I needed to finish the project. I stalled a bit after she woke up to get everything else on the dress finished and when I looked outside the streets were white. Not a snow plow in sight. I thought "maybe the main streets will be clear" and bundled up baby Scarlett and pulled onto the roads. I test the brakes. I slid. I tested again. I slid further. I got to the four-way stop where the roads are busier and they too were snow covered. It had been a wet snow all day so the roads were a mess--slush and ice and snow on top. I decided to abandon the trip across town (it's actually all the way across town to get to a mainstream fabric store that would carry notions!) and went to the corner grocery instead where I stocked up on foods as if we were snowed in.

I could have, should have let it go, but no... When the girls were in bed I went hunting through my button odds-and-ends to find three buttons the 3/4" size to match the one I had covered. I sewed them on, and inspired by Juicy Bits wall dots tutorial, I made my own covered buttons! "This must be how they did it in the old days," I thought! I am pretty pleased with my resourcefulness in the middle of a snow storm. I think they turned out very nicely, perhaps even better than using the kits.


Now for the irony: Sunday morning was perfectly cold and wintry to wear the dress, which I had heroically finished, but Audrey was too sick to go to church! Sigh... We stayed home and wiped our noses (all three of us girls have bad colds) and thought of better days. Hopefully there will be a chance for Audrey to wear her Village Frock before its summer and she has outgrown it.

By the way, I saw this dress first on Made and loved it, also the variations she shared from the Flickr group. It's a beautiful, classic pattern.

I used the same ivory microsuede I used for Scarlett's dress, and also the chocolate brown cotton velvet for the trim. This microsude has a beautiful hand to it! It's silky on the inside and soft on the outside, so hopefully comfortable for Audrey to wear, when she wears it...