Caroline Party Dress & McCall's 6914 Mash Up

Sometimes sewing is so much more than sewing. It's therapy, right? It's a way to do something useful but also a way to escape, to spend time alone (if you're lucky), and to be in the moment. Writing blog posts is also more than just the facts about patterns and fabrics and techniques. Sometimes it's a way of remembering and recording.

I made a modified Caroline Party Dress from Mouse House Creations. I've had this pattern for a year and love the design. I've been meaning to try it but I wasn't sure about what size to make so I kept putting it off.

I had a great friend in college. Her name was Caroline, just like this dress, and she played guitar.We sat on our front porch playing and singing, mostly John Denver for some reason. I had never felt comfortable singing in front of people before but Caroline convinced me I could and that no one would laugh. Or maybe a couple of drinks convinced me (it was college after all), but we had fun. I made Elena her own cardboard guitar to play with.

Caroline liked strong colors. In fact, her bedroom was painted black. Even though she hated pastels, I think she would like this dress's colors because they are strong and fun.Caroline was all about fun. She could make everything fun. The fabric is a fine wale corduroy from Joann's at least a year ago. The bodice only is lined in some pastel pink cotton. Sorry Caroline, Elena doesn't hate pastels.

Back to sewing facts, the Caroline Party dress bodice married the pleated skirt of McCall's 6914 which I used to make Elena's Christmas dress. A match made in heaven because the bodices were the exact same width making the skirt an easy swap. I added the Caroline side seam pockets back in for fun. The bodice is a 3T and so is the skirt width. I went with the 4 for length because the McCalls hits at the waist whereas the Caroline is a higher waist/empire top. I love the length of it and hope it lasts us a couple of months. This girl has grown one whole inch in the last month alone!

My friend Caroline was not only fun and a talented artist and musician, she was kind beyond words. She put people at ease and made them feel special. She accepted people as they were, appreciated people for being different, and opened herself up to people too. She taught me a lot and I am better for having known her. I do wish it had been for longer though. She would have been an amazing mom I'm sure. She passed away in a car accident on her way to work one snowy January morning 14 years ago. I will never forget her though.

Just a few more pics to finish up and to show you my zipper. I know zippers aren't really all that hard but they still stress me out big time. I thought this one went in pretty well with the pattern almost matching up. I was worried about using this fabric to make a dress with a pleated skirt and a separate bodice. There is just no way to match the stripes from top to bottom and I thought it would bother my symmetry-loving brain, but it doesn't bother me at all when viewed as a whole. (It does bother me in the close-up picture below though.)

We are pretty well in the late winter to spring dress category now so we'll have to think about what to sew next. Probably something for the Project Run & Play challenge.