Double Scallop Trim A-Line Dress, a Gail Doane class

I recently had the privilege of taking a class in the United States from Gail Doane. One week of good food, great friends and fun sewing. Who could ask for more? This year I decided that I am going to finish all three projects so they came back in my suitcase to Berlin.

Here is completed project #1. The front: 

And here is the back:

It is Gail's Double Scallop Trim A-line Dress. This one is the green and pink variation. You can see it in another color in her blog Lulu & Annie. Truth be told, I don't particularly like smocking. I would rather be cutting up broken vintage things and playing with lace bits given the choice. 

But surrounded by a small group of great friends and encouragement, I was able to finish the smocking portion of the front panel in about 3-4 hours. I would have been faster but I am not a night person and that slowed me down. Showing my dirty laundry, you can see my rows are not quite even. 

The engineer in me is not pleased with that little part, but overall the dress is cute, cute, cute. It is easy to make and the scallops made by the ruler used was great fun. The double piping is really easy to do as well. Gail shows how it is done in her blog. I made a size 4 and shortly it will be off in the post to Grace, a girlfriend's grand daughter.

Next up to be completed: Side Panel Smocked Dress. I am working on the embroidery and once that is done the sleeves go on, buttons are added and it will be completed as well. It has a matching coat so it has to wait for the coat to join it. As it is a generous size 4 I bet it fits Grace next year.