A finished dress!

This is my Persian New Year dress! (Finished by Easter, naturally.)

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Pattern: Polka Dot Day Dress by Gertie - in Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book and Ingrid Skirt Pattern for the sewn - in slip. The fabric is from the Jane Dixon fruit collection for Michael Miller (I bought mine here and OMG I WANT THEM ALL.) All notions have been ordered from WAWAK.

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Adjustments made: top is size 12, bottom is a size 14. I had to eliminate a pleat from each side to get the top and bottom to fit together nicely.

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Since Mom’s communication isn't quite where it used to be, I did a quick googling and landed on a sewing Reddit page, which had the solution to my "How do you line a pleated skirt?” quandary. (The solution was approved by Mom.)

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What I would do differently next time:

• Cut the top with a bigger cup size

• Be more precise with the bust gathers

Answers to questions/concerns that I'm predicting:

🔮 Yes, you can absolutely sew this dress.

🔮 No, it's not that hard. Mom wasn’t able to help me, and LOOK AT THIS DRESS.

🔮 Gertie's online patterns are wonderfully size inclusive; the earlier books appear to have a more limited size range. (I did upsize a pair of pants from the Vintage Casual Book, and it was easy enough, but, full disclosure, I did grumble while I did it.) If they're available online, I didn't find them quickly.

🔮 Yes, I pressed all of my seams as I went.

... And yes. This. Dress. Has. POCKETS!

Mom update: Her speech is making Very. Slow. Progress. We're working on her Persian New year dress, which I have paper fitted on her to her satisfaction. Her sense of humor remains untouched, and she's able to communicate quite a lot with (what Sam refers to as) her "editorial eyebrows.”

Thank you all for your well-wishes and positive thoughts. We are doing our best to remind Mom that slow progress is still progress.