Home Sewing Is Easy! (And it keeps the home fires burning!)

First off, I suppose I should mention that Greg and I were married two weeks ago!

I made my dress, and you can definitely expect a post on it soon! I am planning to team up on a blog post with our fabulous wedding photographer (since I didn't take any pictures!) so once he finishes editing, I'll get that up. 

While you're waiting for my wedding dress, I thought I'd post a super fun dress I made a few months ago: the Home Sewing is Easy dress!

Greg gave me this fabric for Christmas and I made it up in time for the last NYC meetup I went to. I think this fabric was pretty popular among the home-sewing crowd -- it seems everyone at the meetup had a couple of yards! 

The print is based off an old illustrated instruction manual that, I think, must be from the '40s or '50s since it mentions that sewing "helps keep the home fires burning." 

I lined the dress with plain flesh-toned cotton batiste. 

The pattern for this dress is New Look 6223, which I've made up before. 

Since I'd made it before and been very pleased with the fit, I decided to just go for it this time.

At the time I made it, I didn't blog this dress because I wanted to take the bodice apart and redo it, but I've since worn the dress several times and have decided to ignore its issues.

The bodice, I think, is slightly over-fit. It's a little snug. I have no idea how this happened either. Fabric differences? Maybe I cut a little extra off by mistake? 

Mysteries of the universe. It's one of those "feels fine until I eat something" dresses. 

But aside from some snugness in the armholes and the waist, it's a really fun dress to wear. And I  get lots of compliments when I wear it, which is always a bonus.

I spent a lot of extra time cutting this dress to be sure there wouldn't be anything questionable in inappropriate places.

And I tried (with limited success) to match everything across the invisible zipper.

But overall, now that I've worn this dress in public several times, I've decided to love it.

I know novelty prints aren't for everyone, but they are a fun talking point and a lot of fun to wear!

I also know that many people think quilting cotton isn't acceptable for garments and, to be honest, I can't imagine why. As with anything, high-quality quilting cotton has a high thread count. This dress barely wrinkles after a trip through the washer.

Greg just found an old "Where's Waldo?" bedsheet that I'll likely turn into another novelty dress soon. But first I need to sew some work clothes. And I'm totally about to buy some cotton with happy sushi on it. Because why not?

How do you feel about novelty prints?