Spring Fever Dress {Project Run & Play, Season 6.5}

I'm writing this from indoors with the thermostat set higher than it should be, wearing a heavy coat, in the South....and....I'm cold. Am I ready for Spring? Actually, I may be ready for summer.

When liZ and Elizabeth announced a fun challenge between Project Run and Play seasons we were thrilled! The fact that it was going to involve a FREE pattern remix was the icing on the cake. If practice makes perfect, this is an area we need as much practice as we can get. During the three seasons of Project Run and Play we have sewn along, the pattern remix has been our nemesis {to put it mildly}. During season 4, it was our first sew-along entry ever, and while we think it is the best of the three, there was a whole lot of scratching of the heads as we attempted to figure everything out. Then, in season 5, we still hang our heads in shame. That creation still sticks out like a sore thumb. Finally, last season, while we thought our idea was decent, in theory, we couldn't acquire the main piece to our 'remix puzzle' to complete it on time.

But, the challenge hit even closer to home when they let us know it was Jess' {me sew crazy} Spring Fever dress. How could we not participate? It was adorable, and we were going to meet her this Saturday night at GNO Charlotte!

Since we were 'all in', now it was time for some difficult decision making. We found some fabric in our stash that looked springy and begin our re-design. In our minds, the vision was there, but our execution was not.

Fortunately for the 'slightly' biased aunts, EA will look adorable no matter what! And while we often shy away from pink, it IS her color.

How did we remix it? On the skirt ruffle bands, we opted to use tiered {shorter to longer} and staggered {left to right} tucks and pleats rather than gathers. In hindsight, we should have taken out some of the 'bulk' of the ruffle bands because we ended up gathering it slightly. Our goal was to have a more 'tailored' look using tucks and pleats (97 tucks and 22 pleats to be specific, but who's counting?!?), but the end result, while sweet, wasn't quite at all as tailored as our original vision.

On the bodice, we lengthened it 1.5" to make it more of a drop waist dress, squared off the neckline, eliminated the ruffle "U," and moved the dress opening to the front with an asymetrical opening with tucks incorporated on the side.

To accentuate the bodice and give it a little more 'pop,' we chose to run the stripes horizontally on the large area of the bodice and the stripes vertically on the tucked area to coordinate with the skirt.

Rather than use elastic loops, we braided some DMC thread for our button closures and made some covered buttons using fabric set aside for another spring outfit. Finally, on the sleeves, we used 3 pleats...rather than gathering them.

The cliff notes version of that is: most of the gathers became tucks and/or pleats, we tiered the skirt sections left to right, and what was originally curved or rounded became square.

Now, it's time to pack our bags for GNO Charlotte!  Want to join the fun?!?!  Head over to Me Sew Crazy and follow along to win some awesome prizes....ELEVEN to be exact....much of what the attendees will be receiving. And, if you want to live vicariously through us (or Jess....or Vanessa), then search instagram and/or twitter for #gnocharlotte to see the action semi-live! Not on instagram?? We've got you covered!!  A live instagram feed is on the right side of our blog, and our facebook page should update automatically, for your perusal....