I’d popped into a fabric shop to buy some navy voile-type stuff and lining for a potential project, and on the way out I saw a bundle of this fabric in the bargain bin… Not something I’d usually be drawn to, but I couldn’t quite walk off and leave it.  Queuing up at the till for the second time, the bloke said “Looks like you’ll be busy” – but for a while, I’ve had no idea what to do with it.  (And I haven’t started the navy project either.  Bad Amy).  The fabric’s actually quite gorgeous – heavy polyester, but with a lovely satiny finish, and silvery threads worked through the flowers so it shimmers. 

Cue Simplicity 2406: after the success of my fairground dress, I fancied trying it again with a few tweaks (slightly lower neckline, slightly higher hemline, different sleeve option).  Round 2 has taught me this:

• The instructions are a nightmare.  I assumed I just hadn’t read them properly the first time round, so I studied them METICULOUSLY.  After ripping out the pocket seams for the 3rd time, I finally gave up and found a good tutorial here instead.
• I really don’t like using black thread.  It just looks messy, especially if there’s any zigzag stitch involved, and if you go wrong it looks like squished up spiders.  Nice.
• The different sleeve options are great!  Two down, one to go…

I finished the hem at about 7pm last night, before wearing it out to dinner at 7.30.  Hooray!

PS – do you like the shoes?