When I saw this romantic, breezy dress from Sew House Seven I knew I had to make it right away. It’s called Montavilla and it comes in this long dreamy version, a shorter flirty version, and as a fun top. I knew without a doubt I needed a long linen dress with the front side slits that would create a breeze as I walked. Done. I was a little nervous about sewing this because of the shoulder dart section with a gathering for the ruffle at the same time, but it came together pretty well. Being pretty new to sewing, sometimes I look ahead at all of the steps and get intimidated, but then I remind myself that it’s really about doing just one seam at a time.
This pattern was well written and went together pretty quickly. I worked on it over a couple of days. This linen is more of the Watercolor Linen from Purl Soho. This color is called Pink Flame. It looks like bubblegum from a distance, but up close it has gorgeous bits of orange, purple, and pink in the weave. 
I’ve always been a fan of linen, but I’ve never had as much in my wardrobe as now. I love to wear knit linen tops, but knitting with solid linen hurts my hands soooo much after awhile because it is fairly stiff. But it wears really well and it easy to care for. It seems essential for summer heat in the south.
To get as much sewing done as I want in a week I’ve been trying to plan on cut out one or more projects at a time to have ready for when I get a chance to sew. I’ve also found a little corner to keep a tiny table that’s maybe 13 inches by 36 inches on the top surface, with each side also being a drop leaf. It has a very small footprint in our 900 square foot house. This is a super rusty table we’ve kept on the back porch for years and years. One of these days I might try to clean it up and make it prettier, but for now I’m just going to sew. It’s made a huge difference in the amount of sewing I’m able to get done on a given week simply because I can leave the sewing machine and my little toolbox with my most used tools out and ready to use. Before that I’d have to take over the dining table and dig things out of the closet and put them back every time I wasn’t sewing. I still dream of having a whole room for crafting at some point, but for now I’m really really pleased to have a corner for sewing.
