Rusched top sun-dress...almost.

I found this post from way back on a project that I started and never finished.  You'll notice in the pictures that the decor in the background is not the same as it is now.  Along with finding this post that never posted, I found the project itself almost but not completely done.  I am going to go ahead and show what I've done so far and the next post will show the finished product.

Oh look another skirt....shocker!  

BTW....dress form, $30 craigslist find....just sayin'.

I was tempted to keep this one for myself but that nice flat front band at the top was begging to be rusched.

Since I know that this will be all gathered up, I removed the tags by picking instead of cutting (I usually do this anyway) to keep her from having the itchy back syndrome.

Then it was line after line after line of straight stitching.

I had handwound (loosely) an elastic thread in the bobbin, see the white thick thread there.  This was so that all I would have to do is grab those threads and pull to gather it all up.  WRONG!

After getting it all stitched in, I realized that because of the double thickness of the fabric and me not loosening the tightness of the needle stitch.... every time I pulled the elastic thread it would snap.  SNAP!   In theory this method works, but only on a single thickness of fabric or only if I had loosened my stitch.

So after an hour of stitch picking to remove it all, I restitched the rows with a regular thread and stitch.  Then I went with plan B.  I only encased the elastic in every other row, it's not like she is holding anything up....or in.

Here is the tool I was using to pull the elastic through.  A safety pin works too.  Also notice that I cut out the zipper.  I saw no need to leave it in and I can reuse it later.

So, that is where I stopped and eventually lost that project in a to do pile.  I needed to add straps but needed the daughter to try it on to see how long the straps needed to be....and of course she is in bed when I am sewing at night.  I added some embellishment flowers and was basically waiting to give it a final fitting before sewing it up....and poof, sucked into the unfinished projects vortex.  What a shame!

Anyway, sounds like a perfect one to finish tomorrow night for the next post.