![The Fabric](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches/i-kw8R6C4/0/90dbffcd/M/DSCN5397-M.jpg)
The Fabric
![The Pattern](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-Nk8HfGq/0/e93a5e43/M/IMG_7201-M.jpg)
The Pattern
![The Dress](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-G4GChc2/0/2d850596/M/IMG_2045-M.jpg)
The Dress
I knew when I bought the fat quarter bundle back in February 2015 (about the day it became available) that it would not be a quilt. I fully intended to make a dress or something I could wear. I didn't find the right pattern until last year, when an eBay shopping spree resulted in a handful of vintage patterns.
I didn't remember when I began cutting last September that the fat quarter bundle included a panel. I had already cut the sleeve contrast when I realized I had essentially destroyed a panel. Oh, well, it was never going to become a quilt anyway!
I threw in a couple of extra Stonehenge blue prints I thought worked well with the fat quarters for added variety. I finished piecing the lower band by the end of September but wasn't comfortable with what I had planned to use for the rest of The Dress. Not enough contrast.
![This will make a great dress!](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-wBgwjg8/0/50a9b357/M/IMG_2227-M.jpg)
Which means I will get to make another dress from this pattern one day when I find the perfect patchwork to go with the original denim-like fabric!
One flavor of Moda Grunge won the Battle of the Substitutes, which means I've got another great dress one day when I find the perfect patchwork to go with the second Grunge candidate!
![Grunge at its Finest](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-n5gWRQx/0/87821f7d/M/IMG_2228-M.jpg)
I finished cutting out the rest of The Dress, then we took off for California for my parents' golden anniversary. When we got back home in mid-October, work kept me too busy with way too much overtime for any evening sewing, so The Dress laid in wait for months.
I was determined to wear The Dress to church the Sunday of January's three-day weekend. I worked on it all day the Saturday of the three-day weekend. Why did it take so long???
Because I forgot there was a Grunge strip for the bottom of The Dress until after I had completed hemming the patchwork section. I think picking out the tight, tiny stitching took longer than the entire rest of The Dress! I was tempted to go without the lower band, but I really wanted The Dress long for winter months.
I know I will never look as good in The Dress as the models on the front of the pattern envelope because I'm not 7-foot-2 and 112 pounds. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy wearing it!
I wore The Dress to church the next day and got so many compliments! I wore it to work on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and not one person said anything about The Dress.
Well, no matter. I know it's new, and that's all that counts!
![The Dress](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-LzhXRxT/0/77f1953b/M/DSCN3477-M.jpg)
![I need a flute](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-xTDVN8w/0/d3a4a451/M/DSCN3483-M.jpg)
![perfect for inclement weather](https://photos.smugmug.com/Quilts-Plus/In-stitches-sewing/i-SxJQtBg/0/49fabc2d/M/DSCN3486-M.jpg)
Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.