Crocheting and, What?! Sewing?????

I've started hooking up the China Doll by Doris Chan. I can't wait to wear this one. I saw some chocolate colored linen pants that will go perfect with this at Old Navy. Now all I need to do is find some coordinating flip flops. That shouldn't be too hard.

It's funny. I started making mistakes right from the start on this one. Thanks to Tracie for steering me in the right direction! She helped me to understand that I needed to read all of the instructions, LOL!

This is what I have so far.


I'm using Elann's Lara yarn which is a 100% Combed, Mercerized Double Gassed Cotton. Ooooookaaaay, I don't know what being Double Gassed means but, anyway, all I know is that it was was like $2.25 a ball, so this also explains the bright purple color choice. I wasn't really sure about what color I wanted to make this in anyway. I don't know about you, but for me, the price is always a deciding factor.

And, guess what ya'll, I've been trying to sew. I've gotten pretty far considering that I did not understand the pattern at all. The pattern is New Look 6774. Now that I'm examining the package I hadn't noticed that it said "Easy" or anything like that. I chose it because it was cheaper than I very similar one that I was about to buy. After a while, I just started looking at the picture and constructing the dress the way that seemed logical to me.

I looked on Youtube to find instructions for installing an invisible zipper. Even though I thought I could do it without the right equipment, I'm waiting for my concealed zipper foot to come in the mail from sears now. I couldn't get a better picture. My camera is in its final days and has forgotten how to work.


I think that I'm going to use a ribbon to reinforce the hem of the garment. I purchased this jersey material because it was like two dollars. But, this stuff is NOT for beginners to work with. I'm such a novice that I couldn't even figure out everything to buy from the package. I realized that I need to have some sort of lining at least for the top of the dress. I didn't have enough of the main fabric to construct one so I cut up a poncho like top that I was never gonna wear. I think it's cute. I'm too ashamed to go into to much detail about how the inside looks. My efforts to clean it up just made it worse. However, I must say, that this is the first time in a loooong time that I've been motivated to finish a sewing project that was giving me challenges (simply because of my inexperience in this case). I owe my inspiration to Erica, Adrianne, Patrice, and Sheila. I would never have touched that sewing machine again if it wasn't for you.