Limeade, Limeade, I Love Limeade

This one is finished, except for the shoulder straps. The twirly girl that I made this one for needs to try it on for me, hopefully Wednesday afternoon.

I made a couple of changes to the original pattern. One, I eliminated the back zipper. Two, I chose to make the version with the bow ties on the back bodice. Why use a zipper unless you have to? Since this will easily go over the head in this version, a zipper was not needed at all. I see this kind of thing with current patterns all the time, requiring a zipper when one is not really needed. Kind of makes me wonder if the pattern companies are in cahoots with the zipper folks.

Three, I added bands at the top of each tier. I wanted to perk this pattern up a bit and since I was using three different fabrics, I thought this might be a good way to do it. Here it is:



What do you think? Here's the back:

No way would you need a zipper for this dress. No way at all. That dollar I saved will pay postage on something from ebay, now won't it?..........

To make the bands, I tore strips 3 1/2 inches wide. I played around with the fabrics a bit beforehand, and finally decided (after some good input from Number One son) that this was a good cutting width.

I folded each band in half lengthwise and basted it to the bottom of the top piece. Now that sounds confusing, I know, but this is what I mean:

Here I have the first band pinned to the bottom of the top piece. I basted these together. Then I gathered the first tier and pinned it to the bottom of the bodice/band piece and stitched.

Then I basted the next band to the bottom of the first tier, etc., etc., etc., until I was done.

By doing it this way, I was applying the band to a flat piece of fabric. If I had applied the band to the top of each tier I would have gotten the same effect except that I would have had to gather the tier/band together. Why do it the hard way when there is an easy way?

I know this may sound confusing, so ask questions if you need to.

I finished the hem with a 5/8 inch shirttail hem. Quick and easy and will hold up well, and I think this dress will get worn a LOT this year (even though it was 28 degrees here yesterday).

Here I am basting the band on:

See the cute bow ties?

A close up of the bands:

Another close up.

Using this method of application, my bands are flat, not gathered. This makes them more prominent (I think so anyway) in addition to being much, much quicker. Also, I only used one or two torn bands for each tier. If I had gathered the bands, I would have needed more fabric, since each band would have to equal the measurement of the tier.

This is beginning to get too complicated for such a simple little dress, so I'll stop before I need drugs. Here's one last parting shot of the finished back close up.

Now isn't that nice?