Yes, it’s been a while.  That was an entirely unplanned blog break!  Nothing is wrong, and I’ve still been sewing.

So, a quick dot point update:

• Clare did extremely well in her VCE exams and is now studying Arts at the University of Melbourne (no major decided on just yet).  She turned 18 and had a party with her friends at home.  She’s also just got a part-time job at a new Schnitz store (hasn’t started yet).
• Stella is back at school, with year 8 well under way.  She’s busy with rehearsals for the school production, and Girl Guides is back on too.
• Dan is still working, much of it now back on site but with a bit of Zoom/Teams mixed in.
• I am also working, with all my work this term on site (both locally and interstate).
• We had a couple of short breaks away within Victoria over the summer holidays; one to Bendigo and another to Ballarat.  We’ve recently enjoyed a short break over the Easter holidays in Yackandandah – North-East Victoria is so beautiful in Autumn!  I highly recommend holidaying not far from home.
• We’ve had a few visits to see my parents, hooray!
• Lots of getting together with Melbourne based family.
• We’ve been to various exhibitions and live productions (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Come From Away) as well as seeing some shows at the Comedy Festival.
• I’ve had my first AstraZeneca vaccination (eligible because of occupation).

From all of that, those of you reading from overseas have probaby worked out that life is pretty close to normal in Australia (although as I type this parts of Western Australia are in the middle of a snap lockdown).  Covid-19 cases here are those that have come in from overseas, so are in hotel quarantine – but every now and then a case ‘escapes’ via transmission to another quarantined passenger or quarantine hotel worker, and snap lockdowns are implemented until it is traced and contained.  There’s always an element of uncertainty when going about our lives, because we all know that another short lockdown could happen.  In many ways it keeps most of us exceedingly grateful that we are able to live the way we are.  I find that I’m often reflecting on this time last year in comparison to now.  My thoughts are definitely with those of you whose lives are still highly constrained due to the virus as well as though who have been directly affected.  We are very well aware of how lucky we are here in Australia.

Anyway, most of you come here for the sewing!  Obviously I have quite a backlog.  Rather than catching up chronologically, I thought I’d start with one of the most recent garments.  It is the ubiquitous McCalls 7969 (sometimes known as the ‘unicorn’ pattern because it’s always sold out).

And that’s not me wearing it!  I sewed this dress as a surprise for my cousin Freya.  I really, really love how this dress turned out, but pink/white gingham and the lower frill just isn’t me.  That said, I’m definitely going to sew this pattern again for myself, just in a different fabric and without that hem frill.  Speaking of fabric, it’s a linen/poly blend from Super Cheap Fabrics.

This dress is actually pretty straightforward to sew and to fit which makes it a great candidate for secret gift sewing. There are not very many pieces – front bodice, back bodice, sleeve, skirt, and binding. I didn’t do the binding as suggested in the instructions.

Rather than applying the binding to the right side of the fabric, then turning it to the inside and slip-stitching it by hand, I applied it to the inside/wrong side of the fabric, Then once it was turned to the outside, I neatly topstitched it in place. I used the same technique for both the sleeve and neckline binding.  I didn’t bother with interfacing the binding pieces either as I felt that the fabric was stable enough, and would be multi-layered once sewn.

The time in sewing this dress is in the gathering. Sleeves are gathered at the shoulder and at the cuffs. Skirt is gathered on to the bodice, and the lower frill is gathered on to the skirt. I didn’t use a pattern for the lower frill but just used the fabric that I had left, so mine is possibly fuller than the pattern.

I understand why this pattern has been so popular – it seems to work on a myriad of shapes and sizes.  For reference, this is size Medium.  Although the view A sleeve has definitely been the most popular, the other options are also quite pretty.  I’ve seen this made as a peplum top a few times too.  I’ll definitely be sewing it again.

Just not in pink and white gingham! Much more Freya than me.