When You Just Need A Sewing Win.

I swear the universe has been plotting against me sewing this month.  Between the myriad of homework, projects, and extra activities my oldest's new school has thrown at us, homeschooling my other two kids, all the extra events, holidays, birthdays crammed together plus, fabric testing, a power outage and a massive cold, it's been almost impossible to sew for fun! Luckily I can check this little number off my list, despite a serious lack of sewing time.

This A-line dress has got my favorite animal theme - hedgehogs - and was one of those projects that didn't involve troubleshooting, designing or crafting drama. Just a good, easy sew.  Sometimes you need easy wins!

I'd been hoarding this hedgehog fabric for longer than I'd like to admit (several years at least), so it was great to finally find a way to use it. Only about a 1,000 other stash fabrics to go now...

One of the things I really like about this dress is that it's fully lined. Quilting cottons being able to be worn in Fall & Winter is a real plus.

I first used this pattern, the Adelaide Dress by Seamingly Smitten, two years ago (my original review is here).  It was another instance of making cold-weather-themed quilting cottons wearable.  The first dress was one of my little lady's favorite outfits that winter, just like this one has become this fall. Looking back at this picture I can't believe how much she's grown - her braids are twice as long now!

This time around I used a solid for the sleeves and back panel, which gives it the illusion that it's a sleeveless dress over a top:

Once again, I deviated from the original pattern by doing lines of shirring with elastic thread around the neckline, which gives it the perfect fit on her narrow shoulders and has plenty of give for her to dress herself.

If I do ever have some extra time I may make one with corduroy and spice things up with knit sleeves.  My "need to use" fabric pile is overflowing, so there's no shortage of fabric. Fingers crossed Thanksgiving weekend will be a time of plenty....for sewing!!