A Beany Dress

This was one of those things that hit me at around 11 o'clock at night where I absolutely have to start it right now. I was just lounging around and thinking about getting ready for bed when I realized I really needed to make Beans a dress. Like, right NOW. I'm sure there are some of you that can understand this crafting bug.

So I pulled out a couple of doggie patterns I snagged the last time Joann's had a 99 cent sale. There were some cute jammies, dinosaur costumes, etc. But I think you'll agree, Beans needs a dress. The problem was that all the dress patterns were hideous pink things covered with lace, sparkles, and fluffy petticoats. No. Beans is scrappy. She doesn't do lace.

I usually can only picture my craft projects very literally and I am very open to suggestion. This means that when I see some things I want to make, I have to make it exactly like the picture or else. But I decided to "wing it" and pick out whatever that hell fabric I damn wanted for Beans' dress and I settled on some cute Bear fabric from Japan. I think I got it from Superbuzzy, but I can't find it anymore on their site.

I picked out the least complicated dress pattern and eliminated the sheer overskirt (I mean, PLEASE). The pattern also calls, of course, for lace on the sleeves, neckline, and skirt hem. This is not going to happen. I almost stopped there, but I pulled myself together and instead fashioned a plain ruffle from some yellow remnant fabric. I put a ruffle on each sleeve and on the hem of the dress, eliminating the one along the neckline. Then I topped it off with a matching sash around the waist! (Actually, I had some difficulty sewing the bodice to the skirt and the resulting stitches weren't very straight, so the sash is really a handy cover up). Here's a close up of the sash:


At one point I sewed on some snaps to close the dress. I kind of already knew that wouldn't work, but the closure was the only thing left and I really wanted to be finished. Of course, the dress totally didn't stay closed while Beans was wearing it, so I sent Omar out on a velcro-errand while I was at work.


Voila! Beans in her Bear dress!