Green Shirt Dress: Simplicity 8014

I really love green! I always have. Do you guys remember the “Color Me Beautiful” quiz from the 80’s (I think) that categorized you into a season and told you what colors to wear? I’m pretty sure I was a Spring, and most greens are probably Fall colors, but I don’t care, I like to wear it anyway. It does need to be a certain shade to look good on me, though. If it has too much yellow, it’s a no go.

I’d been pinning several green shirt dresses to my style board on Pinterest, where there are no shortage of styling ideas for a piece like I had in mind. A quick search on Gap’s website alone comes up with three fabulous green shirt dresses, like this green denim one, this maxi version and this one (my favorite!).

When I spotted a pretty green cotton fabric with great texture at Hobby Lobby, mixed in with the Halloween and pumpkin prints, I immediately bought some. It was just such a perfect weight for garment sewing, so I thought it would make a great green shirt dress for Fall.

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I’m pretty happy with how it turned out! I already had a couple shirt dress patterns on hand, but since one of my favorite sewing bloggers, Emily Hallman, has said good things about this one, I went with Simplicity 8014. I made a muslin and to my amazement, it needed zero alterations! That never happens to me, but I wasn’t going to argue with it.

I did have a bit of drama with the buttons. To make a long story short, the snaps I bought at Hobby Lobby don’t function and need to be taken off the shelves. I didn’t read reviews on them first, but if I had, I could have saved myself the trouble. Since I had already purchased them (AND the corresponding snap pliers), I didn’t want to spend more money on different snaps. I also didn’t want to go all the way to Joann. I really was set on the look of snaps, though, ugh! I was being so picky!

I slept on it and it occurred to me I don’t actually need the buttons to function. It’s not like I’d be wearing it unbuttoned! I had managed to figure out how to attach the snap fronts, just not the backs, so I went ahead and installed them on the front placket and then … I sewed the front shut from the top snap to the bottom one, right along the top stitching on the placket. I can get the dress on over my head just fine and no one will be the wiser (except for you, because I just told you ;) It has the added bonus of not being at risk of gaping open between the buttons!

Problem solved.

I find there’s a lot in sewing that requires problem solving skills (wait until you hear about my latest jacket adventure!) and that’s actually one of the things I really like about this hobby. Don’t you feel like sometimes having to make do, or come up with a creative solution, ends up being what you like best about a project? Happy accidents abound in sewing.

Cheers!