Happy Little Trees Anna

Did I say that I rarely blog sewing repeats?  Ummmm yeah, seems I need to work on a little self examination about my sewing habits. But I can't think of any way to make that funny so let's talk about my third repeat instead, the By Hand London Anna dress. Cue photo where I'm doing something weird with my hands. Kind of amusing though.

The Tiki Goddess maxi version of this pattern is still on my top list of favorites for the summer.  Can't beat a dress that makes you feel gorgeous and allows the wearing of awesome shoes. The only downside to that dress is that I'm a clumsy bumbling fool that is endlessly shutting the skirt into door frames. My son has also witnessed some physical comedy involving maxi skirts and stairs. Is there a "Living with Maxi dresses" class that no one has told me about, or all of you magically coordinated? Coordination was left out of my genetic package, being replaced with "poses to toy frogs for comedy." Only the magical power of the Tiki Goddess has kept the skirt intact up to this point. Bless you Tiki Goddess, I'll pour out a frozen drink in your name.

Not wanting to put the maxi dress in peril so often, it seemed wise to whip up the tea length version of the pattern. Then I could still wear an Anna dress on days where I'd already ricocheted into several door frames. Damn, when did that wall move? You saw it jump at me didn't you Desmond? Child just gives me a look that says, "Mom you might have some issues."

Annnnnyway back to the whole sewing of dresses thing.  I knew what fabric to use for this project because it jumped into my head during one of my sleepless nights spent plotting the sewing queue. The vintage tree print cotton!  This fabric had a stiff hand so it seemed a good choice for a non drapy pattern like Anna.  The print is also delightful and I'd been itching to sew it up.  Something about those petite trees made me think about Bob Ross and painting his "happy little trees" and left me with happy feels

*Quick pause for back story - Growing up my paternal grandparents lived next door to us and were the default sick kid minders. A sick day at grandmas usually involved laying on the couch watching things like "My favorite Martian" and "The Joy of Painting" while grandma made you no less then 5 lunch options. Since I've always been an introverted child who loves eating and old TV, sick days pretty much rocked.*

One could argue that since the trees are blue and gray that they are depressed little trees. I choose to believe that they are just happy little trees that also enjoy my color scheme. High five trees, blue and gray together is one of life's perfect pairings. Let's make a dress together.

Not too much to talk about construction wise.  I'd worked out all my fit issues in the maxi version and didn't notice any new problems. The white background on this fabric was surprisingly opaque, so I didn't even have to mess around with underlining. Hooray! This time I was smarter about the skirt and only took the pieces off the labeled patterns right before serging and then sewing each panel. There were still a few moments of, "Is this the right edge?"  Those almost identical skirt panels will always make you question your sewing aptitude.

It's interesting how the shorter version of the dress has more of an Audrey Hepburn-ish feel to it, rather than the va-voom vibe of the maxi. In the tea length dress I'm just chilling waiting for Gregory Peck to arrive and take me on a tour of all the sites. He's going to tease me by putting his hand down a statue's mouth and screaming, that rascal.  Where as in the maxi version I am all goddessy like and ready to dispense festive cocktail umbrellas to all. I like both versions because some days a girl doesn't have the head space for always thinking about where her maxi skirt is. Ahhh I'm stuck in a door again! Find help! Confiscate their cell phones first. I don't want any pictures.

Last photo is for my husband who liked my legs in the sitting down poses. Ooohhh knees!