The past few months has been quiet challenging for a lot of us, me included. Between the pandemic, the loss of loved ones, the protests, and the tension around us, the last thing on my mind was being creative. I seriously lost my mojo to do anything that gave me joy. Life was just too difficult to have a desire to create fun clothing or do anything fun altogether.
But as time passed, it became evident that life will not change, at least not any time soon. I found myself having to accept that we will all have to adapt to these ongoing stressors. With that acceptance came a bit of relief that allowed me to break out of my funk. If this is life at the moment, then I would have to force myself to be look within and find peace with that. That peace allowed for my creative juices to return.
I decided the the first garment I would create for myself had to be something fun but not too challenging. As I have been cooped up in the house since the pandemic and only leaving for work and grocery shopping, I decided a cute weekend summer dress would be ideal. Something comfortable but chic and can be worn for any daytime summer activity.
To create the dress, I used Simplicity 8839 blouse without any major modifications. I cut the bodice of the pattern at the lengthen and shorten line. Then I used Erica Bunker’s tiered dress tutorial, found here, to create the skirt of the dress. The dress was supposed to be short and flirty, so I created only 2 tiers. The pineapple print fabric used was a stretch brushed cotton twill.
The summer weekend dress turned out exactly as I envisioned. It checked off all the elements of a weekend dress, comfortable, relaxing, and easy to wear. I’m looking forward to making more weekend dresses. My excitement that my creative flow has returned has me ready to get back to designing and sewing.
Hope you have also found a way to deal with all the challenges this year has brought on us. We will all get thru all of this together.
