Homage to Japan Dress

Our Week in Review
Like everyone else, Japan has been on my mind constantly this week. The news on the nuclear disaster just seems to be getting worse and worse and the amount of devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami is unfathomable. Of course, my worries have been compounded by the fact that Joe finally arrived in Okinawa on Tuesday afternoon and his safety and the safety of his colleagues has been a concern to me. Joe has reported that all of the Seabees in Japan are safe and that the chances of radiation reaching Okinawa are almost nonexistent. The island is about 1,000 miles from the nuclear plant and the prevailing wind patterns, that blow from the south, rather than the north, will prevent the radiation from reaching them.

Here we are right before taking Joe to the drop off spot.

Joe's departure did not go as smoothly as planned. Just hours after I posted last weeks blog Joe woke up in the middle of the night and, being media obsessed, checked his Blackberry. There was an urgent message from his colleagues regarding the earthquake and reports of tsunamis in the north. When I woke up a few hours later the news was that all was well in Okinawa and Joe's departure flight was still scheduled for that evening. By mid-day his flight had been canceled and rescheduled for the next evening. I was actually disappointed about the delay as we had all prepared ourselves for the departure and the emotional roller coaster of the changes was unsettling. A nice benefit of the extra time with Joe was an unexpected opportunity to go out for a date on Friday night. Also, Joe was able to see Audrey take her first real steps, which I completely missed. She still has not made a repeat performance of this feat.

Saturday afternoon rolled around and we were just an hour from the designated drop-off time when he got a call that they had pushed it back once again to the next morning. Argh, really? Sunday morning, another phone call saying it would be that evening instead! By this time we'd all had enough, especially Grayden who proceeded to have a one hour meltdown. Poor guy was so confused and frustrated by the false starts he just couldn't handle it. Sunday afternoon we hosted a previously scheduled potluck at our house for the families of Joe's colleagues that had already deployed. That was a nice distraction from the impending departure and we ended up leaving in the middle of it to take Joe to the drop-off. Grayden handled the goodbyes very well (I think the earlier outburst helped him process it) and this time the departure was for real.

Monday, our first day solo, went off without any problems. Tuesday brought a stomach virus for Grayden and cold symptoms for Audrey and I. Today is day three of our quarantine at home. So far Audrey and I have avoided the stomach issues and we both seem to be on the mend form the cold. Grayden, on the other hand, SEEMS to have had mini-recoveries but keeps relapsing with vomit and other "unmentionable" symptoms. I'm really hoping Grayden is well enough for school tomorrow. Three days at home is enough for me and one more will probably push me over the edge. I have dinner out with some friends to look forward to tomorrow night so he has to at least be well enough to leave with the sitter for a few hours.

The Sewing Project

• Fabric: Two, 3/4 yard pieces of cotton, $5
• Pattern: Simplicity 2674, $1
• Notions: Invisible zipper, hook & eye, $2
• Time to complete: About 4 hours
• Total cost: $8

Cotton floral, kimono style fabric, and contrasting stripe.

The inspiration for this week's project came directly from the world news and personal events. I had this lovely cotton, inspired by traditional  kimono fabric, that I had bought a few weeks ago to make a dress for Audrey. I am so glad I had a girl because I'm a sucker for floral prints. I've asked Joe to seek out a fabric store in Okinawa so he can send me real Japanese fabrics, straight from the source.

I bought the pattern during a $1 pattern sale at Hancock Fabrics where I stocked up on a ton of patterns. It is a very cute, relatively simple dress that provides a lot of opportunities for customizing the design. I chose the version with contrasting bands under the yoke, the hem and sleeves as I felt it had a bit of a kimono influence to to.

Since beginning to sew dresses for Audrey back in January this is the third pattern I've tried. Interestingly all three patterns have had different techniques for sewing the yoke, which has been a good opportunity to learn new skills. This one had a technique called "stitch in the ditch" so that the top stitching does not show on the front of the dress. I liked this because I did not have a purple thread that would have blended with the contrasting fabric and was able to use the green thread I was already using. I adapted this same technique to finish the bands on the hem and sleeves too as the instructions suggested leaving raw edges that I didn't think would have been professional looking.

The only major challenge I had was the zipper, as this is the first one I had done in a LONG time. The instructions called for a standard zipper but the one I had in the correct size was an invisible zipper. I started out using the instructions on the pattern and had completely sewen in the zipper before I realized it wasn't going to work. I had to take it out and start over. The second try turned out fine, it just slowed down the whole project.

Getting messy the way only a 13 month old can!

The resulting dress is just darling on Audrey. I made the size 1/2, which seems to fit her fine right now with some room to grow. Since she is still crawling it is a bit impractical for her to wear a long dress as it gets caught under her knees. When she is on her feet I think this will be a staple in her wardrobe. She even already had a pair of lavender bloomers that look great with the dress.