Saved by the bell...

Sometimes you think you have a great idea in your head and yet the outcome is so horrendous that you wonder how could you even thought it's gonna be good in the first place.... That happened with me re my supposed to be anniversary dress...

What was I thinking???

The pattern is Butterick B4443, and a first attempt. I planned to make View E and I made a muslin, decided to amp it up with red piping at the princess seams front and back. And a play on the fabric prints (main bodice horizontal, side bodice of princess seams were cut on bias and the waves are facing towards the middle, and the skirt part the waves are placed vertically.)


Then when I try it on (before sewing in the lining) the noon of what supposed to be our anniversary dinner day, I really hated it. Like super HATE. It's so ugly. The print of fabric. Sooo loud. and a whole dress with the print, OMG. My only explanation is that I have been having flu and stuff that I'm not thinking straight....

Of course there's other issues (with fit), but that print ugliness dwarfed all the other headaches... And I was so sad that I can't even finish a dress for our dinner.... But, I ended up wearing my buttery yellow sweater dress and we (the 3 of us) had a lovely dinner at Red Lobster...

So what is a girl to do with the mess of a dress? I was really close to chopping it up and use the fabric at my machine quilting class I'm attending (first class was really nice... i like the teacher a lot, she's very laid back in terms of her approach to quilting, and that gives me hope haha...)

Since the Starting at the Top 2012 challenge is ending (today), I decided to save this project by converting the ugly dress to a cute-sy top. Let me tell you, if the challenge wasn't ending this soon, I would've moved on to other top projects and ditch this one in a second!

I addressed the fit issue: shortened torso and back, added design element of shorter front with longer back (hi-lo?) and added gathered lining that peeks out at the bottom. I also decided to add piping at the neckline.

So here's my 4th top for SATT 2012:

Back view:

So that's that. Truthfully, I still need to stitch down the lining to the inner zipper, but I can't be bothered right now. I wanna sew with my other fabrics. I'm not giving up on quilting cotton, but next time I will know better...

Fabric: Charcoal and white cotton from Amy Butler's Lark Collection
Lining: Cherry red cotton voile
Piping material: cord saved/harvested from bedding covered by same lining fabric
zippers: 18 in black poly zipper from stash

Starting at the top challenge 2012 - Top # 4