Every Color in the Box Dress

First of all I just want to say THANK YOU! to everybody for your kind kind words and supportive encouragement. I am honestly overwhelmed by all the love (if maybe slightly uncomfortable with all the attention...but so grateful nonetheless!)

When I decided to do this competition, I sort of told myself that I was just going to make whatever it was that had been floating around in my brain and not let myself be swayed by what I thought might be popular etc. Of course everything we do creatively is influenced by things we see so of course I absolutely draw inspiration that way, but I really kind of tried to unplug from looking at pinterest and other sewing and design blogs etc. so I could just tap into my own imagination and not be too influenced.

Anyway, I am just mentioning all this because there were points when I was making this dress where I honestly wondered if people would hate it (and maybe some of you do! And that's OK;)) and because it was coming so much from my gut I felt (feel) so emotionally involved in this dress. It's hard to know until it all comes together if its going to work or not and though I meant to get started sewing far in advance, with Christmas and lots of visitors etc. that just didn't happen.

(Avery was so not into this photo shoot)

So I really was sewing right up until the day before we posted, (Thank goodness I'd gathered all my supplies ahead of time.) and just wasn't sure if it'd all work out. So it just means an extra lot to me that so many of you like it! I really wasn't sure. I kind of thought it would be a -- love it or hate it-- kind of a look. Anyway, thanks for loving it. Or at least for loving me enough to pretend you do;)

Second, I was surprised that so many people thought at first that the scallops were part of the fabric. That never even occurred to me, and I should have probably done a better job explaining it.

Piecing those little buggers was far and away the thing that took the longest on this dress. But they were also the design element that I was most excited about and totally the jumping off point for me.

Anyway I am going to try to get a little tutorial together to show you just how I did it. I am so far behind in sewing though. Honestly I am basically just doing all the challenges in real time at this point. I meant to have at least a few done when we started but it didn't happen. Luckily (and because I know myself and sort of guessed this might happen) I spent a lot of time thinking, imagining, planning, and buying for potential looks ahead of time so if I can just get the fitting and sewing done I should be alright.

When I was following the past seasons I just kept thinking, "How are these girls getting all this sewing done and still maintaining the rest of their lives?" And after just one week in the competition I am still wondering that. Because I am not keeping the rest of my life together.


My house was a MESS all week. I am not a good multi-tasker. Even though I mostly only sew after my kids are in bed, I still felt like everything else was sliding. Most of the girls in this season sew all the time and post regularly on their blogs and I have so much respect for them! Really...I don't know how they do it.

Still, even with a messy house, I have to say I am really enjoying this whole process. It has been fun and good for my soul to dedicate some time to just doing something I love so.

And it makes it so much funner to have you guys following right along with me! Thank you for your support!

PS. Voting ends tonight if you'd still like to (and it's close!) And man I don't envy the judges. I think there is just so much creativity and really good sewing. So fun to see everybody's interpretations.


* Post Edit: I had an inquiry about the colors I used so I thought I'd list them for everyone in case you're interested. All materials for the dress were Kaffe Fassett's shot cottons in the following colors:
Cactus
Ginger
Sprout
Chartreuse
Forget Me Not
True Cobalt
Grape Shot Cotton Fabric
Pudding
Persimmon
Ecru
Thunder
Apricot
Ice
Galvanized