It was soooo… freaking hot this weekend.

Last summer I mainly spent at work in an air-conditioned building, so didn’t require all that much of a summer wardrobe. This year… I quit, so have found myself feeling somewhat warm when I go out in the daytime. Short shorts and vest tops have been embraced, but they leave little room for carrying things around.

This calls for trying to embrace the girlie………………. and a dress with pockets.

I had had a couple of yards of cute R2-D2 fabric from Joann fabrics lying around the craft room for a while now, and decided to use that for my first go:

The yoke is just some white cotton from my stash. The dress is straight from the packet, but graded out from 34 bust to 36 for waist and hips, based on the body measurements given on the pattern envelope.

When I was first putting it together, my concern was that it wasn’t going to be big enough around my hips, but actually once it was all put together….. I think it is a little big!

Woe!

It is wearable, but a little big around the bust, and a little roomy around the waist, although I know that others have solved this with a belt to cinch in the waist.

I think it still looks pretty cute as it is, and of course there are no zips or fasteners, so it needs enough ease to fit over the head as is. Although I think it is wearable like this, after looking at the finished garment measurements on the pattern and knowing how much ease there was in the style of the dress, I decided to go wild and cut a straight 32.

Even wilder, I decided to finally cut into my other Alexander Henry fabric that I bought at Stonemountain and Daughter at the same time that I bought my inappropriate Christmas fabric – check out these handsome gentlemen!

There is of course: Mr “check out my rod”; Mr “I have a big axe”; Mr “I’m going topless backpacking” (although bizarrely it kind of looks like his head does not belong on his body); Mr “I’m going to go climb some rocks”; and lastly, Mr “is it bedtime yet?”.

I think my favourite is the man with the axe. He’s so rugged and manly 😉

Anyway, it turns out that a straight from the packet 32 is a perfect fit! 

Although I did adjust the shoulders a little, taking off an inch in width at the outer edge, tapering it down to the original armhole. The fabric for the yoke and lining came from my stash, I believe I got it at Joann.

The directional detail on the yoke fabric helps accentuate the “origami-inspired yoke”, and again I finished the armholes using a strip of bias cut fabric, finished using the overlocker, then stitched down by hand. Yep, I need to work on my handstitching!

Also, I finally got some new glasses:

Do I look like a hipster or what? Ha! I decided that after almost two years in California, it was time for some prescription sunglasses, and so updated my regular glasses too.