Pocket Dress

I love pockets! I once saw a wedding dress on television with hidden side pockets and wished I had seen something like that in time for my own wedding. I think it's because I never know quite what to do with my hands and they always tend gravitate towards pockets (my own, of course). I'm quite proud of this dress which was created by only loosely following the guidelines for the cotton tunic.

I added pockets, long sleeves, darts, and a zipper in the back which weren't in the original instructions. I bought the fabric at a 40% discount sale during Fabricland's 43rd birthday celebration and promptly got started on the dress right after I finished my cotton one. The fabric was more difficult to work with than I had expected because there was absolutely no stretch to it. Consequently I had to put in the darts and invisible zipper so I could easily get into and out of the dress without needing to call for help (which I did the first time!).

Cotton Tunic

At the end of March I developed some crazy allergic reaction and my hands flared up so horribly I missed more than a week of work. It was very upsetting being unable to do anything for myself because both my hands were blistered and swollen over. I only got relief two weeks later when we headed to the emergency room at Toronto Western and they prescribed me with Prednisone. It's been a slow recovery so far, and unfortunately I had to drop my jewellery course at George Brown midway through the term, just as I was about to finish my silver box project (grr).

So, as my hands continue to slowly improve I've decided to temporarily set aside my jewellery tools and bring out the ol' Singer again. Sewing is much kinder on the hands than jewellery-making. Plus I have a few projects lined up already, starting with this cotton tunic/dress. Originally I had longer sleeves and a longer hem line but I started wondering if it was looking to 'granny-style conservative' so I snipped off a few inches. It instantly made the outfit look better.