September Dress - Tried and True Butterick 5146

I have been sewing lots of dresses since I started sewing in the late 1990s. It's funny because I was such a tomboy growing up that I would burst into tears if my mom force me to wear a dress (other than my school uniform). But now I find that dresses can be extremely versatile for difference occasions, different weather conditions and of course make getting dressed in the morning much easier (yes!).

For September I made a knit dress with a remnant medium weight, cotton check double knit that I bought 7 years ago. I used a tried and true Butterick 5146 which I have tweaked to my body shape. I have used this pattern for this dress and this dress.

I shortened the waist, made the deep v-neck less deep and made it a short sleeves dress. There is a little bit of excess fabric at my back due to my sway back but I'm not going to worry too much about it. I contemplated making patch pockets for the dress but I thought it would make it too casual looking.

I wore the dress out already and it was super comfortable. Another easy to wear dress that I can use for the office, for leisure and for 3 seasons!

The review of this pattern is here.

I have joined Sew for 30 for September!

Sewist-extraodinaire Star's Threads suggested the 'Sew for 30' challenge for September. I have joined this challenge as well. As per her blog post:

'September is National Sewing Month in the United States.  We all lead very busy lives and finding time to do the hobby we love can be difficult so I'd like to encourage everyone to "Sew for 30 minutes" everyday during the month of September.   It's amazing what you can get done in little increments of time!  A seam here, a press there and before you know it - you have a brand new little something!'

So for this challenge I will try to sew for 30 minutes every day during the month of Sept. I have missed some days already but I'm not going to worry about it. We are going to be extremely busy this Autumn with home renovations, helping some elderly relatives move homes and the usual hustle and bustle with children. I'm going to try my best to get some sewing time each day to relieve the stress.

For past couple of weeks, I was able to sew some simple projects:

1. Girl applique t-shirt - My daughter wanted to have her t-shirt applique'd with her age for the school's photo day. So I used remnant fleece to make a number and sewed that onto her chosen t-shirt:

2. Boy applique t-shirt - my son also wanted the same thing done to his t-shirt for photo day:

3. Hello Kitty pencil bag - my daughter wanted a new Hello Kitty pencil bag for the new school year. So I just used remnant fabric and a thrifted zipper, traced the kitty shape and 'embroidered' the shape onto the bag. I also embroidered her initials at the back of the bag. Way to bust some fabric/notion stash!

4. Sweater knit skirt refashioned - I say refashioned - well it's really just adding a side slit to  the skirt. I like the glittery wool sweater skirt. However, it's not too comfortable to walk in (as I like to speed walk/march). So I decided to just carefully take out the yarn on the side seam up to just above the knee and voila! Much more practical skirt for me to wear this autumn/winter.

I'm pretty happy with the little projects I have completed so far. Hopefully I'll be just as productive for the rest of September!