Two Oolongs

Trying to look dappa' like a flappa'

So, what have I been up to lately? Other than... well... LIFE? Other than using a prolific amount of Bac-Out cleaner and tending to three little upset--though now recovered-- tummies? I've been SEWING, of course!

I'm so pleased with these dresses!

(unhemmed, but you get the idea!)

Fully lined Oolong (un-hemmed)

I've admired this pattern for a very long time. I think it somehow ended up in my stash sometime after this blog post (so lovely! one of my favorite blogs)... but how it got in my stash, I honestly can't remember. When did I order this? How did this get here? Seriously Hubby, I don't know how these patterns end up in my possession....

Oolong in October rain-- hemmed, but BRRRR!

... But I digress. As much as I loved the look of the Oolong, the pattern description made it sound really difficult (despite it's "Intermediate" skill level). It is a fully lined dress, and it's cut on the bias. WhatwhatWHAT? But then I saw some folks on the Sew Weekly website recommend it as a surprisingly easy pattern to work with. And from what I saw, it was clear that this was a very lovely, flattering cut on everyone who made it.

So, I decided to put on my crazy hat and cut out two dresses, complete with two shells (a shell is the outer dress material) and two linings. Let's just say it put a nice little (okay, teeny) dent into my fabric stash-- unexpected bonus!

The lining material is a turquoise striped, swishy synthetic that I found at Goodwill, of all places. The pink fabric is a vintage cotton that I also scored at G-dub. The second dress was made in a 1930s feedsack reproduction print (I think?). I found 2.5 yards of it in a remnant bundle at an awesome local fabric store-- a birthday gift for me from me. It's a quilt-weight cotton, I think.

So I cranked these out, assembly-style. It was actually fun, and it went by quickly, thanks to the fact that there are no zippers/ buttons/ closures/ interfacings to fuss with. I only had to make some minor tweaks with the fit, but nothing worth panicking over. And can I just say that there's NOTHING better than slipping on a fully lined dress? If you're a big skirt/ dress wearer, you know what I'm talking about! I love lined skirts, and a lined dress feels so luxurious and well-made.

I'm still totally nursing the baby, so this dress doesn't work well (at all) for that. Fortunately, I am not his main source of nourishment anymore, so I can wear an Oolong once in a while :)

It's totally not a "fall" color, but I did wear the pink one with a cardigan and tights on a date out with Job the other night. It was great. I plan to wear the blue and yellow (my 'Swedish dress', as my mom says) one to a wedding later this month.

Even if I don't get any personal sewing done for the rest of the year, I'm so pleased to have completed these dresses! Now that I have these in my closet, I can move into "Christmas present" territory.... Gotta get started now, we'll see how it goes...