One Hour....or Twelve

I was in Hancocks one day when they were having a 99 cent pattern sale and I saw Butterick 5211. I've never used knit before but I thought it would make a cute summer dress. (I especially liked the green version on the right with the cute sleeve). The top of the pattern said: One Hour Express! I knew that was not going to happen, but I hoped for 2 hours? Maybe 3? I don't know where these people get their numbers from, but it took me a solid 12 hour day to put this dress together. Okay, fine - I had to stop a jillion times along the way to make food for my family, take the kids to the library, go to the grocery, etc. I probably spent a solid 4 hours sewing between breakfast and bed. And 1 of that was picking out and re-doing the sleeves a couple of times. They looked so cute on the envelope but boy they were fiddly.

The pattern was supposed to be a sheath -type dress with pockets. I have never, EVER, tried on a dress of that style that looked cute on me. I don't know why I thought that if I made one it would automatically be adorable? I was smart enough to leave out the pockets - no one needs extra bulk in that area. But...not excited about this look.

I had enough fabric left over to make a belt. This is better. Notice how the neck has a small cowl effect? It's not supposed to do that.

It's supposed to be a wide boat neck like this. It will stay this way for about 10 seconds until I move and then scrunch up in the middle again. I'm going to blame it on my shortness.

In the end I learned that knit is not so scary to work with. I used a special needle and moved my stitch width to 3.0. Otherwise I didn't do anything different. AND...the part I loved most is that Knit. Doesn't. Fray! Love that.

And now that it's made I'm not sure what to do with it. The material is too thin to wear to church or a nice dinner. It's a very light jersey material. But it kind of looks wrong for hanging out in Kroger too.