Love is in the air...

This week I'm joining in with Season 6, Project Run and Play, for the theme Love is in the air. I knew I had the perfect fabric in my stash; a Japanese fabric, Sevenberry, bought on sale some time ago.


Once again, I've used the Good Deeds Dress by Elysium... a dress designed specifically for charity sewing. Earlier this month I used the same pattern to make;

• stripes and polka dots dress for Week 2, Project Run & Play
• curved seams dress for the Curved Seam Challenge

This time I've modified the pattern, by adding a ruffle at the bottom, lining the bodice and adding ruffled sleeves.

Ruffles are a great way to make an outfit pretty and girlie. If you've never sewn a ruffle before, it's not that hard. The tutorial, How to Sew Ruffles will step you through the process.

To match the ruffle at the bottom, I added ruffled sleeves, which necessitated lining the bodice. The bodice is a mix of old school and new school, which worked, but next time I'll change it and use one method or another, as the seam between the bodice and the skirt is a little too bulky for my liking. I also didn't smooth out the bodice layers as well as I thought I had, so the top layer has a little extra, which I don't think will matter to anyone other than me.

As is often the case, I've sewn this dress at the eleventh hour, so no time to show you how I made the bodice and the sleeves. Next time I make this dress, and there will be a next time, I'll take photos of the process. The fabric is already cut out. Cutting out is the part of sewing I least like, so I tend to cut a whole lot of things in one go, to get it out of the way. I find I work faster that way and also enjoy the sewing more.

I'm really pleased with the look of this dress. I LOVE the main fabric, with red being the obvious choice for a contrast.

This little dress will be joining the other two and will be packed up and sent to the Australian representative for Dress A Girl Around the World and from there, will be sent to a little girl who otherwise might not own a dress. 

Initially, I debated whether the dress was suitable to send to Dress A Girl. The little recipient certainly wouldn't  be celebrating Valentines Day. But then I reasoned, the fabric wasn't bought as Valentines fabric. In reality, it's just pretty fabric with strawberries, flowers and hearts. So, three down and forty seven to go to reach my goal of fifty dresses for Dress A Girl this year.

As soon as I've added my dress to the collection at Project Run & Play, I'll be checking out the other entries.

I'm also adding this dress to the Ongoing Dresses for Girls link party, here at Threading My Way. As of today, there are 240+ fabulous dresses in the collection. I'd love you to add any dresses you have made.

... Pam