The Sunshine Dress

Sometimes, you happen upon a match that is just meant to be… but it takes patience and time and a little more patience.

This life lesson has made itself apparent to me many times in many different forms in the past week, but we’ll save the deep stuff and talk about this match:

The Patterns for Pirates Sunshine Dress + Phee Fabric’s Rayon Spandex

Oh my dear goodness… there has never been a more perfect pair. I feel like a Roman goddess in this dress! It’s flowy and dreamy, unbelievably soft, and not even the slightest bit “see through.” I had women walk up to me today just to feel this fabric. It’s that magical.

My littlest guy asked me why I was wearing my pajamas to work.

{For the record, I have zero sleepwear that looks like this, but I would totally sleep in it now!}

I’ve been dragging my feet, trying to work up the courage to tackle those gorgeous gathers for more than a year. It only took one look at this beautiful turquoise fabric to convince me to take the chance.

I’m no stranger to gathers, but I never enjoy the process. A lot can go wrong – the threads can break… the gathers can be uneven… they can bunch when you’re attaching to your facing piece… I have ripped out more seams because of problems with gathering than for any other reason!

Luckily, we are part of a community of sewing geniuses who have a solution for everything.

Exhibit A – Use your serger!!

Perfected by The Seasoned Homemaker, her technique is so simple and gives you total control over the spacing of your gathers. This is by far my favorite method. There is something about having a little extra stability in the seam and the gathers turn out perfectly every single time. I gathered with my serger for this dress and couldn’t be happier with the results.

Exhibit B – Gather with a zigzag stitch

I love the ease and speed of this method, as demonstrated at Simple Simon and Company. The only drawback is lack of control over the gathers. I find it’s a bit harder to keep them evenly spaced. I do occasionally use this method. When I do, I secure one end of the gathering thread with a Wonder Clip and gather with the free end. It’s a great method for short gathers in sleeves.

How lucky are we to have such amazing resources online and great materials available to work with? Go snatch up some of this gorgeous turquoise before it’s all gone! I’ve already ordered more of Phee’s rayon spandex to make summer dresses and I’ll be sharing those beauties as I’m able.