I finished Dress No. 9 the other day when Maisie was happy to be on her play mat on the floor in the sewing room. I took pictures of it as soon as I had it on since it seemed likely it would need to be washed soon. Nothing seems to invite spit-up like a piece of fresh clothing. Since I was at home by myself the easiest way to ensure Maisie would stay happy while I played with my camera was just to include her in the pictures. She's learned what this big black thing is and loves to look at it.

Specs for the dress: I used the All-Weekend Sundress pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. The fabric is a Liberty of London Tana Lawn print, the name of which escapes me, that has been sitting on my shelf for over a year. I got it with a different dress in mind but decided the stripes weren't going to work for that pattern. That other dress required less yardage so Dress No. 9 isn't as long as it could be but it's breezy and easy to wear so I still like it. There is shirring with elastic thread at the top of the bodice and the waistband. I'd forgotten how much I like elastic thread. It's really fun to use and makes really comfortable, nicely fitting clothing.
---

I wrote most of this post last weekend but thought I'd lost it when the power went out. I finally had another bit of time for blogging this evening and just discovered it was still there. It turns out I'd finished my dress just in time. The weather turned last Monday and today we had our furnace on. It was 16 degrees in the house when we got up this morning and had only risen to 17 by the time Rob got home from work in the evening. I usually like to wait as long as I can before turning on the furnace but Maisie and I were both pretty cranky so even though it's not yet September the heat is on.

Do you remember my ten dresses project? This is the dress that stalled it. I won't go into all my problems with it again (you can read back on them by following that link if you feel like it) but I will say I'm very glad to have it done and finally photographed. The print looks like balloons to me so I always think of this as a party dress and the reason it didn't get photographed last year when I actually finished it is because I wore it out for our anniversary and got tomato juice on it. The tomato washed out but by then my belly was starting to show and my dress didn't fit (Wow, that was Maisie!). I haven't worn this dress this year except for it's little photo shoot the other day. I'm very happy to report that even with my new shape it still fits very nicely but it's just not a style you can nurse it.

Know what is a style you can nurse in (and just five rows of shirring short of being finished)?

Dress number nine.

Maisie took a nice long afternoon nap in her swing on Tuesday and I put together this little dress for her. It's a pretty funny way to sew: stitch a seam, check to see if she's awake, press a seam, check to see if she's awake, …  At every point expecting to put away my project until some unknown time (now I suppose since she's napping on the bed at the moment) but being given just a tiny bit more time to do the next step. The neckline is just a drawstring on the ribbon so this should fit her as a dress this year and a top next year. I'm hoping to have some pictures of her wearing it (and maybe even a simple pattern) sometime soon. But don't hold your breath. Everything depends on the naps.