Up for a Challenge

After finishing a quilt project like the one I made for my friend's wedding present, it's always nice to work on a few instant gratification projects like the sleep sack I made Harper, or these two lovely Figure-8 scarves:

Both of them are made out of fresh, fun fabrics designed by Anna Maria Horner. The one on the left is made of two layers of voile, and the one on the right is one layer of voile and one layer of cotton velveteen. I prefer the all voile one as it is less bulky and drapes nicer. The velveteen one is nice paired with my red coat when I'm heading outside...wait, this is not what my post was to be about.

A couple years ago, my friend Amber made a beautiful vintage dress to wear to a holiday party I hosted. I immediately purchased the pattern and some fabric and got as far as cutting all the pieces out and transferring markings. Fast-forward two years, and I'm finally digging the fabric back out of my stash and making it my goal to finish it by Easter so I can wear it Easter morning. Let's just say this dress has many many pieces and many many directions. It's definitely do-able and not too difficult, just more challenging and time consuming. Here's where I'm at:

If you can't tell, so far I have just the front put together. Next is the back, including a zipper and four more pleats (making a huge skirt!), yoke and facing, sleeves, and hem. So far it seems to fit well on the mannequin, but I haven't adjusted the measurements in two years either. 

Hopefully it won't be long before it's all put together. I'm just excited to be working with this gorgeous fabric by Art Gallery again. I'm thinking I may have to find a cream cardigan to pair with it...Easter isn't always sunny and warm here in Minnesota.