The Whole 6 Yards of Red Gingham Dress!

What can be done with a spool of red thread?

Ms. SpoolTeacher set out to make a new dress for her new job that she doesn’t have yet. She has been trying to make a career for herself with her creative acumen, but since the business is still in nuce, and she had long decided her time would be better spent actually doing rather than to spend that same time (interpreted money) writing a business plan, she has now made a nice noose with which to hang her hopes on.

One must Keep Calm and Carry On…

Writing this post at this moment, when she should be looking at the same screen investigating “career paths” and filing virtual round file histories of her illustrious meanderings through JACKIE-OF-ALL-TRADES-MASTER-OF-PRE-SPOOL-BABY-SHOES spools of non-higher education (self-taught), where the credentials taken away are of non-tangible value, is a blaring indication of an impending psychotic breakdown. Anxiety is high, but yet it feels like adrenalin. She can still see a little light at the end of her Quonset Hut tunnel [where she may be living sometime soon if not a cardboard box or the back of her Dodge Intrepid, (with its newly rebuilt engine, read story here) with a dog, two kitties, and a canary]. Adventure is looming…

She is determined to hang her hopes on that noose for as long as is utterly possible. You can’t get there if you give up, even when the banks have no more bones to throw.

a spool of red thread

So, she decided to get on with her bucket list and make that red gingham dress that has been in her minds-eye forever. Red gingham has some kind of magic power over her emotions and can calm her like yoga.

With her last bit of monopoly money, (before she got the bad noose from the bank), while she was over tending to her friend who just had triple by-pass/valve replacement surgery, and she was in a higher-end area of the world where people still seem to be alive and kicking, looking like all is well with the state of the world, some of it rubbed off and she felt a splurge of less than hopelessness, picked up six yards of red gingham, several very pricey patterns (when did that happen?), and low and behold, seven, 7 pairs of (Support the poor people in China), pretty darn nice looking, animal friendly strappy shoes from no less than the Payless.

She bleach (fried) her salt and pepper, all natural, healthy hair blonde and took 25 years off her face. Who’d a thunk..she stopped being invisible. Men started looking, people were friendlier. She thinks there might be a chance to get that job. Her idea is to get that red gingham dress made and on and start knocking on real doors and getting to the key players and meeting them eye to eye with her blonde bombshell self (attitude is everything) and make it happen. Enough of this wondering who’s hands the virtual app fell in.

Ya think?

“Where life is beautiful all the time
And I’ll be happy to see those
Nice young men in their clean white coats and
They’re coming to take me away, ha-ha!”

And yes, Ms. SpoolTeacher does buy new fabric from time to time. Addictions be what they may. It’s her drug of choice. Fabric…aah…fabric!

If only…

These aren’t the pattern, but cute anyway.

Here’s what Ms. SpoolTeacher did with a spool of red thread… and 6 yards of red gingham (though she did not use it all by far). So she went with the pattern on the right.

a spool of red thread

All cut out and pinned to start the darts on the bodice

Start your engines….

Lilly spying

bag of pinks

the color that blends the best is the one to choose

the lightweight fabric called for a fine needle to keep it from pulling/poking the threads as it goes through

Mom’s old biscuit pan is a keeper for memories and does well with needles in a clear box.

bobbin was already threaded, a little different but okay..easy peasy

Good light for make-up too!

Bodice and lining, no need for facing. Darts pinned.

pretty pieces

soda and coffee, ready to go

Good Ole Machine

Love lo-tech, didn’t see the dust til picture blew up, bad ole eyes, :o)

take it out, do it again, not quite right (should ‘a marked it) :o(

that’s better and they match, bodice and lining (important details for a great finished look)

progress feels so good

back darts pressed toward the center back

front darts get pressed open

finishing the seams for a clean appearance and to keep from fraying

crazy teacher thought she could turn it even with armholes sewn…sometimes ya just have to learn by doing and undoing…

“yeah, well, ya should have asked me first…”

Never, never leave Lilly alone in the room with crunchy paper!

Piping trim, what color?

red for quiet detail

a zipper foot makes it easy to run the seam right along the piping

polka dots piping would have been gingerbready, even though gingerbready is cool, red was right

getting the point just right…you have to “hold your mouth just right”…

admiring her work before she sleeps…miles to go before she sleeps…

no scrap left unspooled basket

sleeves or no sleeves? That is the question.

The Red Gingham Calms Her Like Yoga-Dress

Bias Armhole Option to replace puffy, out of date sleeves

Now for the finale!

Finishing off the armholes.

Finishing off the armholes

Almost there…

Almost Done

Now for the zipper….

All but for the zipper

It’s quite a process…

Zipper Installment

We’ll fix the closure a little better later. And since it doesn’t fit quite as well as had hoped, buttons on the sides and a nice big bow-tie for the back.

The saga concludes….(except for the closure, button/bow-tie, and the real person reveal (you know, gotta paint the toenails, fix the hair, make-up…so time consuming).