I don’t know how I get myself into these things…

Okay… I do. It all started with the fair cardigan I knit that was destined to become Wren’s Christmas present. I knew I wanted a frilly little dress to go with it.

The trouble is… I really wanted something with birds on it. Parrots to be exact. Wren’s mother, Krista, love birds – especially parrots. But I couldn’t find anything in the stores that would work. Not even something with just regular birds.

Then one day at Lens, I thought – how hard could it be to make one? Famous last words…

I found what seemed like would be a simple pattern. It called for two contrasting fabrics. They didn’t have parrots, but I found these colourful little songbirds.

The feather fabric was in another aisle, but I thought it was a great match. Krista loves colourful things and both prints would go great with the orange from the cardigan.

The fabrics have been kicking around the studio for a while, but last Sunday, I decided it was finally the day to tackle it.

Things went ok.. at first. I remembered that I really don’t like sewing curves that much, though since making a few bags, I’ve gotten better at them. Then I realized I’d cut my feather fabric wrong, and I wasn’t going to have enough. A quick trip over to Lens solved that pretty easy, but it was an interruption I didn’t need.

Then I got to the gathering. I #@$%ing HATE gathering. It’s something I’ve done before, but I’ve never been very good at it. I struggled through it with a lot of swearing and a lot of ripping… and eventually…

The dress was done! And it didn’t look half bad… I couldn’t believe it! Wren turns two in April, but both the dress and the cardigan are size 3… just to be sure she won’t outgrow it too fast.

And I was right.. both fabrics look fabulous with the orange cardigan. Maybe all that frustration was worth it…