3 Smocked Dresses

Thank goodness daisy print fabric is back in style.

I made this smocked dress many years ago and just found it yesterday in one of the many smocked dress boxes in my sewing room.
The pattern is Daisy May by Wendy Schoen. Size 2.

The back calls for a little buckle or a button as opposed to a long tie.

When I made the dress, I wasn't too happy with the collar as it covered up the smocking. I truly thought I had made a mistake and used the wrong size collar.  But after hours of embroidery, I decided just to leave it as is.  Way back then, I didn't know if I was ever going to be a grandma so why fret!

When I saw this article in Fancywork Magazine about the Daisy May pattern, I quickly saw that the collar was indeed supposed to hang over the smocked section.
I felt redeemed.

And later I saw the same pattern made up without smocking in Creative Needle Magazine.

Moving on to another smocked dress; this one came back for an alteration.

Caitlin had worn it but the sleeve band was too tight. The pattern is from AS&E and when I originally made this dress, long before Caitlin was even a glint in her mom's eye, I wondered if the sleeve band was too small.
Well, it's repaired and it goes back to the owner.

Because the yellow print fabric was busy, I chose to use a light coloured embroidery floss and keep the smocking design simple.

I also found this red smocked dress in the same box as the Daisy May dress.  The pattern is from AS&E.  Knowing the sleeve band would be an issue, I took the sleeves out and re-made them using the sleeve pattern from Family Heirloom Dress (Oliver + S).  Since I didn't have any deep red fabric, I was unable to make piping for the sleeve cuff.

I think I had planned to make a denim jacket to go with the red smocked dress hence the blue embroidery flowers. Plus I have enough red fabric to line a little jacket.  But that's a project for another day!

UFO Finished

There was an almost finished size 2 smocked dress project sitting in the UFO box. All it needed was a few more rows completed and then put the dress together.

It is made from a lovely Voile that I bought years and years ago.



I began this project pictured on the front cover of AS&E called Ming Blue back in 2003.
Therefore, the dress was cut out, pleated and partly smocked 7 years ago!
Well, since there's no time like the present, plus I'm trying to bust not only my stash but UFO's as well, I decided to finish the dress.

This project turned out to be a time consuming and frustrating task!

First of all, there wasn't enough fabric for the front button band. So I had to make a join which is obvious. But I'm hoping Caitlin will be too busy whirling and twirling, that no one will notice the seam.

Then I couldn't find either a pink, green or yellow fabric suitable to make piping. So I resorted to using yellow ric-rac which ended up being too heavy on the Voile and made it pucker on the front button band.

The smocking stitches weren't particularly good either. I must have been an awful rush when I smocked it originally.


But the worst part was I just couldn't find buttons that matched. While I probably have a trillion buttons in my stash, okay, maybe not a trillion but it sure seems that way, there weren't 6 matching buttons in pink, green or yellow. I went to a few fabric shops seeking out buttons to no avail.

Then I came across this self covered button kit buried deep in a box of snaps, hooks and eyes.



And originally, they were only 39¢. What a bargain.

Well, I got the dress finished. Although I wasted a lot of time trying to get it done.

The tally now is 1 UFO finished. 1 card of yellow ric-rac busted. 1 card of self-covering buttons busted. This doesn't seem like much at all!