Lucy's New Dress

You may recall that I was initially too terrified of my sewing machine to even think about actually trying to us it.  See my post, "8 Reasons I'm Terrified of My New Sewing Machine."  However, Saturday afternoon I decide it was utterly ridiculous for me to be afraid of a sewing machine.  I had a dress all cut out, pinned and ready to sew.  All I needed to do was turn that bad-boy on and stitch it up!  I was bound and determined I was going to do it! Tomorrow.  Sunday. Yep, that was going to be the day!  Unless I was too busy or there was a good football game on (the Pro Bowl could have been good!) or it was nice outside and I could go for a walk, or I had to clean the curtains, you know something important that couldn't wait.  Yay, I was probably going to get that dress put together on Sunday. Most likely.  Maybe . . . .
But I did it!  I finally got up the nerve on Sunday afternoon and sat down at The Beast, fingers trembling, knees knocking, pedal foot twitching.  At first I thought it would be a good idea to try some practice stitches on a spare piece of fabric.  So I put a scrap piece in and let it fly!  I was amazed that my fingers were still in tact until I realized that the thread had come out of the needle and not only were my fingers stitch free, so was the fabric.  Ah, but I would not let this minor setback deter me.  I re-threaded the needle and tried again!  This time, I was able to get some stitches into the fabric.  However, the thread got really tangled up in the bottom of the machine where the bobbin is.  Frustrated but bound to be successful, I got my husband--Mr. Fix-It--and he helped me clear the knots. Though it would have probably been a good idea to keep practicing on pieces of cloth I didn't need for the dress, I finally decided to just get it over already and try sewing the dress together.  So, I put the carefully pieced together garment under the rocker-pedal or whatever it's called, and hesitantly pushed down on the pedal.  To my amazement, the machine was actually doing what I was telling it to do!  I was actually able to sew the dress together--all of it!  And when I took it up and held it up, it actually looked like a dress! I was so proud of myself!  I couldn't believe I had taken some pieces of cloth and turned them into an actual wearable item. (Okay--so when I make a tutu I use hundreds of pieces of cloth and turn those into a wearable item but this was different--it utilized machinery we've only had since the Industrial Revolution and that was only a 150 years ago or so.  In a few more years, maybe I'll get one of those cordless phones!)

Lucy's new dress!

The only problem with my dress was that I could not figure out how to finish the edges.  I read in the booklet that came with the sewing machine that I should have been able to use some sort of finishing stitch to make this happen, but it was not cooperating.  I finally decided that I would hand-sew ribbon around the edges and I think it turned out okay but I'm going to have to put in hems next time or something because it took too long and I don't really like sewing ribbon.
I also decided I needed to do something to make my dress stand out from all of the other cute little frocks you can find on etsy these days.  There are a lot of people who can make much more complex designs with a sewing machine than I can.  So, I decided to add some rhinestones.  Lucy really likes ladybugs right now so I made a template for a ladybug and added that to the front of the dress.  Even though ladybugs are mostly red and her dress is pink, I think it turned out really cute.

And Lucy's little ladybug

After several hours of work (mostly on the ribbon and the untying of several knots in the sewing machine thread) I finally had a very cute little dress! I couldn't wait to put it on my little baby and see how cute she looked!  Unfortunately, she was taking a nap!  So, I waited and waited.  When she finally got up, she loved the dress!  She started carrying it around with her like it was one of the 3 blankets she can't leave the house without (and this includes her bedspread, which makes traveling as simple as, well, packing around a bedspread.) Eventually, I convinced her to let me try it on her.  Giddy with glee, I slipped the little pink frock over her head--uhm, just one problem. It wouldn't actually go over her head.  It was stuck.  It was stuck on my baby's enormous head!  Lucy is a teeny, tiny girl.  20% in weight, 30% in height, 98% in cranium. Yep, ginormous head.  (It's because her brain is sooo big!) After all of that work and anticipation, we were not getting that dress on for anything!  She didn't seem to care but Mommy was very disappointed, sniffle, sniffle.
I know that all I need to do is go back and put a button on the back of the dress and it won't take me that long to add said button.  So, that's the plan.  But I would have really liked to have seen her in the dress after all of that work. Ah, well, eventually she'll be wearing that ladybug dress, spinning around, falling down, tearing a big whole in it, and we'll be tossing it in the trash. . . . If I'm lucky, maybe I'll get a picture of her in it first!
I can't wait to make some more of these cute little dresses.  They are simple and comfy, perfect for spring.  I have purchased some really cute fabric to a make more.  I am going to have to perfect my technique a little bit but overall I'm pretty happy with how the first one turned out.
What projects have you decided to try even though you were scared of messing them up?  Sometimes our best work comes out of our biggest fears!