Shirred Sundresses

It has somewhat amazed me since we moved back to Queensland two weeks ago just how humid it is here. I had forgotten how brutal it can be when it is really hot and really humid. As I said in my last post, my Melbourne wardrobe is not really that suitable for this weather. I need really airy clothes that don't touch my skin much. I'm particularly bothered with too much fabric on my chest. M is also really sweaty and feeling the heat with her cast on -- it must be disgusting to have that little oven encasing her whole arm.

Queue the shirred sundress.

To help us both feel a bit cooler, I made a shirred sundress for us each. M's is out of a delicious Liberty gifted to me by Blogless Anna. Mine is made from seersucker from Spotlight. I wanted to test this style first before committing to one of my nicer fabrics, so this $10/m seersucker fit the bill.

For both dresses, I used Jorth's Tutorial. It is super simple. The only two things I did differently were:

1. I didn't wind the shirring elastic tight around the bobbin. I keep an even and firm-ish tension as I hand-wind it on, but not tight. To tighten the shirring up at the end, I steam the living daylights out of it with my iron. 
2. I subtracted 10cm off the width of the rectangles - I found them to be too loose. 

I winged the placement of the straps - pinned them on and tested them before sewing them on, on both dresses.

As you can see, I have a ruffle. This is not intentional! I cut my dress length too short. But now it is on, I totally love it. Ruffle-Tactic!

My last picture is to show my insides - I have a small stash of coloured shirring elastic - check out my green insides!

So there you have it. Two shirred sundresses for this crazy heat. I have two pieces of fabric cut for another for me and another for M. We're both sweating our little hearts out!