Remember my lovely pink lace on pink cotton fabric? I did make it into this ruffled skirt, and I think it turned out quite fetchingly. I tried to proportion the fabric so that the ruffles at the top were about 1.5 lengths to the length of the top yoke, so 1.5:1, and at the bottom the ruffle/skirt ratio is about 2:1. I am finally starting to maybe master those proportional concepts. I also love the double elastic waistband, so I make an effort to use that style on my skirts and pants. I find it distributes the gathering more evenly (this is also why one of the gathering techniques that you may learn is to sew two very long threads along the top of a ruffle or skirt to gather it. It tends to even it out.) The one thing I would change about this project if I did it again is that I would have made the lace ruffle just a little more full.  

I also finished a project I started circa March or February. It is a dress for my mom, also in the color pink. I have a pattern that I have made for her based on a favorite (and very basic) nightgown off of which I pattern variations of every estimable kind. Around Christmas time I made up about three nightgowns off of it and more recently I have been working on dress variations. For this particular piece I suggested a ruffle detail on the front similar to one of my sister's shirts involving ruffles of the circular kind. This took me rather awhile to pattern, as I had to recut some ruffles to get the right fullness. I also sewed one on in the wrong place too. (Whoops. That's why it seemed too short.) But I got it all figured out and together the night before I started my new job. Nothing like getting a project out of the way.

It even turned out so well that my mom exclaimed she would have to wear it to a wedding reception or some fancy occasion. I love to see her do that little "I love it, and I am so pretty!" dance. Totally. Worth. The. Time.