Lemons Dress

When life gives you lemons, what do you do? Do you make lemonade, as the tired old saying goes? Go on a furious rampage, squirting acidic juice into your enemy's eyes? Or do you think, "Screw this - if lemons it must be, let's make it lemons a la Hot Italian Mama Style. Messers Dolce and Gabbana have totally got this yellow fruit thing sorted right out!"

Obviously, I chose the last option. If lemons are having a moment, then I wanted in on it! So I betook myself over to KJT Fabrics and ordered myself 1.5m of lemony goodness.

When my order arrived I was surprised by how light and almost sheer the fabric was. Being a cotton, I expected it to be heavier, but this was so fine that you could see through it when it was held up to the light. Based upon this, I considered lining the entire dress, but then I remembered: HOT ITALIAN MAMA STYLE! Let's live dangerously, and risk showing a wee bit of leg through the skirt! The bodice section, however, did get the lining treatment, with some black silk/cotton voile performing the duty.

I will admit, I was a bit scared of sewing the triangulated point of the bodice. My track record with these types of patterns isn't anything to write home about, but I girded by loins and sewed that bad boy as accurately as possible, even slowing down to a stop and then hand cranking the needle for the last few centimeters to ensure that I didn't go over the stop point. Behold! My carefulness was rewarded with a perfect bodice! There was happy dancing all around. I may even have stopped to juggle a few lemons in celebration. When life gives you lemons in your fruit bowl, make those yellow orbs multitask, I say!

Apart from a slightly tricky bodice, this pattern was a breeze to put together. I didn't need to make any adjustments, and the fit was spot on. It's a great pattern for many fancy frock possibilities. My new painted dog pal approves!

Project Details:
Pattern - McCalls 6833, version B, size 8
Fabric - 1.5m Dolce & Gabbana lemon cotton print from KJT Fabrics
Notions - 35cm invisible zipper, plus silk/cotton voile in black for lining