Thursday, June 16, 2011

June Challenge: The Earthquake Dress

I meant to do this post on Monday but we had two more big aftershocks. The power was knocked out again but thankfully we got it back on in the evening. We're back to boiling all the water too. Luckily, the house wasn't really damaged further. The cracks (including the one above my door which reminds me of the crack in Amy Pond's room) all seem to have got bigger but apart from that there wasn't any significant damage.

McCall 7622 Dress


I was actually wearing this dress at the time of the big 6.3 magnitude quake. I was also wearing a pair of relatively high heels, which is something I would not recommend.

Nothing about this dress has really gone to plan so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised that my attempt at posting on Monday was thwarted. Do you recognise the pattern? I thought not. That's because the dress looks nothing like the pattern envelope. It's the peplum dress pattern. Once I'd cut it out and started sewing it I decided that I didn't like the way the peplum sat so I got rid of it. The neckline looked funny as well so I folded it back and added two buttons as decoration.

Neckline close-up
I swear it looks more even in person.


I did lots of handstitching on this. The hem, the armholes and the zip were all done by hand. Usually I hate hand sewing but I found it strangely relaxing this time.

Dress Fabric


I love the print. The fabric is a thin cotton I've had in my stash for ages. The buttons, zip and cotton were all from my stash as well.

McCall 7622

I look slightly stunned. It's probably the lack of sleep.


After all the drama, this dress is kind of...meh. It's okay but I don't love it. Don't get me wrong, I will wear it because I didn't spend all that time hand stitching to just discard it.

I have started on my second dress. I am pretty behind on the June Challenge but, since I (thankfully) don't have any exams, I can hopefully catch up.

14 comments:

  1. Oh no! Poor girl :( I was thinking of you when we heard about the aftershocks. I hope you're Ok, and at least with the power back on you can have tea. Tea fixes everything, right?

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  2. It's not so bad. A lot of other people have it a lot worse than I do. Tea does indeed fix everything, as long as the water has been boiled for three minutes to kill all the germs ;)

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  3. Oh geez! I hope it settles down over there x

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  4. I don't think it's meh, I think its lovely. The fabric is gorgeous. It actually reminds me of a dress I have in my wardrobe. Well done.

    You take care now xx

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  5. I love this dress! Not meh! It's beautiful and very inspiring. I'm really sorry for all the earthquakes you had to suffer through - I hope all is well with you...

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  6. I think your dress is fabulous! I am amazed - with all the things going on you have been able to create something. I have to ask you, is that a sheet hanging as a back drop in the photo? The fabric is cool. Chin up and hang in there.

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  7. Well,it's just lovely!Pretty fabric,wonderful use of buttons! I frequently change the way a frock is going as I sew!!! My machines have taken a few knocks,haven't checked yet to see if they work...........meh!
    XXX

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  8. Bex- Thanks, me too.

    Louise- Thanks. I do love the fabric. I think it will probably grow on me. I'm not really used to wearing 40s style dresses.

    Stephanie- Thanks. I think I might learn to love the dress. All seems to be well at the moment, although we are still getting quite a few small aftershocks.

    Penny-Rose- Thanks. Sewing helps me feel a bit more normal with everything going on. Close- it's just a piece of fabric I have hanging in my sewing room. I'm debating what to make with it.

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  9. Helga- Thanks. I do love a good button. Hopefully your machines are still working. I usually put mine on the floor when I'm not using them, just in case.

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  10. What lovely fabric and what a lovely dress!
    I'm amazed at your dedication to dressmaking/blogging that you can think of blogging while having to boil water for 3 minutes and looking at widening cracks.

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  11. The fabric is gorgeous and also amazed that sewing/ blogging still on your mind with earthquakes happening. But maybe that just shows that one has to move on and do things and I'm not used at all to things like that.

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  12. Hey I think this looks really good.. I love the grey-blue colour. I think it will grow on you as I think it is one of the best styles you've made and it really suits you.
    On another note; you all must be fatigued regarding those earthquakes ... onwards and upwards as they say.

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  13. I love your new dress! Too bad you feel it's a bit meh, hopefully, as you say, it will grow on you. It seems to suit you well and those little adorable buttons add nice details. And the print on the fabric is gorgeous!
    And hopefully these earthquakes stop bugging you all over there.

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  14. I think it is really nice, just not as colourful as you usually make. It looks cool with purple tights, maybe it just needs a pop of colour elsewhere - buttons? cardigan?
    Glad to hear you are coping OK - keep on sewing!

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