Day One Hundred and Ninety-Eight

That's one more down for Item #78 (make 20 items of clothing for the kids)! My daughter (whom I think I'll call Boo for short, which is a LONG story involving Charlie Brown and baboons) picked out the material herself, and at first I just laughed because it was one more instance of her skipping over the sweet little floral calicoes and making a beeline for the sixties-inspired geometric prints.

Then I started sewing and it was not so funny any more. I am not so good at zippers, and this one was no exception. I managed to avoid pulling it out and having to start over, but only by doing it VERY slowly and carefully, and double-checking what I was doing at every step of the way. I am also not so good at bias tape, and I was less than enthused to discover that Boo's eleventh-hour design change (two ruffles, no sleeves) would require me to finish the arm holes with bias tape. And see that little flared set of ruffles? Somewhere in the second hour of trying to sew it on correctly, I had to stop and seriously consider whether or not was a sin to say, even in my head, "I hate this #%*$! Easter dress."

It finally went on straight, disaster was averted, and some time around 10:30 p.m. the night before Easter, I sewed the last stitch and hung the finished dress in her room so she could wear it in the morning. I also was ruefully reminded once again of my long-standing tendency to procrastinate, my perennial underestimation of the amount of time it takes to sew on a ruffle, and my (once again) unfounded skepticism regarding Boo's fashion sense.

After all that, it's a #%*$! good thing she liked it.