Homemade Friday: I thought this was supposed to be easy?

It works a lot better if you follow directions, dumbass.

Also, it helps to measure.

That’s what I’ve been saying to myself ever since I finished sewing what was supposed to be a super-cute pillowcase dress for Adele.

Though I guess it would have worked better if I’d used an actual pillowcase except for some old material that I stole from my mother (Thanks Mom!).  But in my defense, the material was already hemmed so I thought since I didn’t have an extra pillowcase this would work beautifully.  Also, I hate hemming.  HATE!

But the cuteness of the material distracted me from the fact that it may have been just a teensy bit wider than a pillowcase.  I used a pattern, from this book, which was more of a guide than a pattern, and that’s where I probably went wrong.  Also, even with a guide, I tend to skim and skip steps that I think are unnecessary.

You’d think I’d realize that since I’m not that good at sewing to begin with maybe I should CLOSELY FOLLOW ALL STEPS in order to get the results I want.

You’d think.

So I took the measurements and cut the dress out according to the instructions.  And then I thought about how big Adele was.  There was quite a bit of difference between the two.  I know it’s supposed to be flowy, but that was a little ridiculous.

And that’s when I realized how wide my material was.  I cut two inches off each side of both the front and back pieces, hoping that would fix it. Well, it did fix the width aspect of it.  However I also failed to take into account the width of Adele’s shoulders and the width of the scoop neck and beck of the dress.  I take that back.  I did take it into account, but chose to ignore it, hoping that if I just thought really happy thoughts and worked really fast I’d somehow avoid the problem that I knew was there.  

I mean, I was so aware that instead of making 1 inch box pleats I made 2-inch ones to take it in some.  I probably should have made 4-inch ones.  (I know, most of you probably have no idea what I’m talking about.  I didn’t either until I made this.)

Alas nothing worked.

It just doesn’t fit.

The fit is so bad that I forced Sebastian to try it on just so I could see how awful and ill-fitting it actually was.

He was thrilled, obviously. 

However it is adorable.  So adorable.  I want so much for it to fit.

Maybe when she’s 4 she can wear it as a shirt.  Or else I’ll make my mom fix it for me.

SO ADORABLE YOU GUYS!  GAH!!