More on the dress

Choengsam dress
I have pictures of the Cheongsam dress! I'll start with the top of the dress. The dress form is leaning, due to an old injury. The side to the left of the picture opens and will be closed with snaps. The zipper is already applied.

The pink bias for the trim is cut 1" wide and applied first. the print bias is cut 2" wide and applied second, tracing the previous stitching (yes, upside down so you can see the stitching). This trim is not included in the pattern, but instructions are available online.

I then pressed everything toward the cut, trimmed edge ( trimmed to about 1/8 ") . It gets folded to the back side and hand stitched from this point.

An invisible zipper is inserted on the right side below the trim opening. I am using a factory made dress as a sample, although some of the details are different. I bound the bottom of the zipper with fabric, although I will have to redo it so it is more straight.

The same trim will be applied to the leg slits after I make sure the hips fit. An a-line skirt does not work with this style.

Part of the top usually closes with self fabric frogs. On this dress, there will be fabric flowers instead.

Public Art
What has attacked the parking meters in my town? It looks like a mad crocheter. Actually it's a group effort by an arts organization, occuring in a number of business areas. Each color is crocheted separately with a large hook, large yarn, and an open stitch. They are they sewn together and sewn onto the parking meters. In this installation, they go for about 3 short blocks and there are at least 20 decorated meters covering both sides of the street.

I hope it makes the drivers feel better about donating $.25 to park for 1/2 hour. Our police force is quite diligent about enforcement. This is a busy street, so the photos were taken early Sunday morning.

I finished another pair of socks for my big foot Son in Law, who will be in town in 2 weeks. His birthday was about a week ago. No good pictures until I figure out what I'm doing with the pattern. The leg is a slip stitch stripe pattern, which stretched the main color yarn to cover size 14 feet. Main color is Meilenweit tweed at 420 plus yards/100 gms.