My Favorite Thing I Made This Year

... is my "butterfly dress." I made it about two months ago, but did not have a photo to post until this morning.

Ooops, I forgot to smile. I should have smiled, because wearing this dress makes me happy. I've given up on coralling Beloved Spouse into camera duty as he is rarely around and distractable at a time when I am wearing something I'd like a snapshot of and when the light is any good, so this morning I figured out how to use the timer function on our camera. How to pose attractively while waiting for the shutter to twitch is, clearly, a skill I have yet to master.

This is yet another rendition of my current favorite dress pattern, Vogue 8232. I was inspired by Cindy to make a long version (stretching the skirt to top-of-foot length, while keeping the hem width the same, results in a better hanging skirt on my body; at knee length the skirt is a bit full) and am glad I did. I'm eager to make several more as I wear long dresses around the house quite a bit and this one is both easy to whip up and very comfortable. Unfortunately, since I am on the tall side, it requires a good three yards of fabric and the largest pieces of appropriate fabric in my stash are around the two-yard size. I will have to either be creative or quickly sew up some UFOs and "earn" some new yardage.

I am quite sure that whoever designed this fabric (cotton, purchased online some time ago at half-price) had a nine-year-old girl in mind, but I have a fondness for the slightly goofy. And since this is for around-the-house wear only I can dress my inner nine-year-old, rather than my outer 51-year-old, if I want. How I got to be middle-aged (and pudgy!) are questions I am trying to ignore.
The best part of this dress is that if I do manage to lose some weight one of these days/years, I can nip it in along the side seams and it will refit well enough. At the rate my slim-down plans have been regressing I won't have to worry about that for a while. I do have a resolution or two in mind in that area, too, which I will blog about some other time.