Put on the Red Dress

I sewed a slew of knits as part of prepping for our vacation. We're halfway through our drive cross-country to visit family in Rochester, Minnesota and then more family in Chicago. When we've made this trip in the past we've usually gone in August. Heat, cicadas singing, summer storms. So far June has been cooler and we've run into some rain. Very exotic for us drought-weary Californians. I'm figuring we'll be seeing some shorts weather, since we'll be heading home through southern Utah and Las Vegas.

Knits are always good packers. Easy-care, not too many wrinkles and not too warm.

Front view - must develop more decolletage

This is the cowl-neck dress #106 from BurdaStyle's May, 2014 issue. I had this piece of red cotton knit from Backstitch, in Nevada City. I'd planned to use it for a dress or maxi skirt. Deanna, Backstitch's proprietress, had suggested the weight would be good for one or the other. I don't usually wear red, but, hey, when you're on vacation you should live a little, right?

Side view

 It's a lot of red though.

The dress only has three pieces; back, front with cut-on cowl and sleeve. It should have been a snap to sew but once again I got stuck in the mental flypaper of the instructions. After scratching my brow for some time I turned to PatternReview.com, hoping some wiser mind than mine had worked this one through. I clicked my way to the super-helpful review by cabinbaby. She links to her blog post, where she explains very clearly how to put together the cowl in a much nicer way than Burda suggested. Plus, she helped me understand what the heck Burda was talking about in the first place. She is a lifesaver!

This dress is kind of outside my comfort level, but I'm thinking maybe for casino wear. We're going to spend one night in Las Vegas on the way back.

Another front view - darn that neckline swings wide and low

I may mess with the neckline some to bring it up a little. I think Burda imagined the dress on someone younger and with more décolletage than I possess.

Let's hope the red brings me luck at the tables!

My review is on PatternReview.com here: http://sewing.patternreview.com/review/pattern/99085

Can't figure out how to do a URL link on my iPad.....