Anywhere Dress: Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry Tour

Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour

There's a point in sewing the same patterns over and over where you can stitch up a new outfit faster than you can wash and dry an old one; that's when you make laundry, instead of doing it. I'm excited to be part of this inspired blog tour from Pear Berry Lane, Paisley Roots, and The Crafting Fiend celebrating sewing over laundry. I'm a natural fit for this.


Love this quick sew! Anywhere Dress from Go To Patterns | The Inspired Wren for the Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour

This tour was made for me. I sew sitting right in front of the doors of my washer and dryer and yet...I avoid doing do laundry at all costs. Just ask Mr. Wren. The laundry is perpetually in progress and three floors separate his closet and the laundry area. It is terribly annoying to climb a flight of stairs to get dressed, only to have to go back down two flights to find the clothes you need, clean, but unfolded, and still in the laundry zone. There have been plenty of times that I've made a new school outfit for The Peanut while sitting among plenty of perfectly reasonable, yet unwashed, options.

Fabulous knit dress! Anywhere Dress from Go To Patterns | The Inspired Wren for the Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour
I climb over laundry piles; she climbs over tree stumps.


I have my go to patterns (Flashback Skinny Tee, Go To Leggings) that I know I can whip up in 45 minutes or less. But I've been in need of an equally fast tunic/play dress option. To that end I purchased this Anywhere Dress well over a year ago and then accidentally filed it before sewing. This week I climbed over the laundry piles between the sewing machine and the patterns and dug it out.

Love the clean finish of the lined collar on this knit dress! Anywhere Dress from Go To Patterns | The Inspired Wren for the Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour
I even took the time to understitch the collar -- still faster than doing a load of laundry from start to finish!


After I traced the pattern, redrafting it to a size 5 wide by 6 tall, I started timing myself. It took one and a half episodes of Little House on the Prairie -- or one and half hours. But that included interruptions for helping the Peanut with snacks and missing toys, fielding phone calls from Mr. Wren, and Mrs. Olsen insisting brown eggs are worth 4 cents less than white! So truth be told, I'd say this one is probably under an hour to sew, and I suspect I'll get it down to 45 minutes with each repeated sew.

Perfect, simple knit dress. Anywhere Dress from Go To Patterns | The Inspired Wren for the Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour
Loving the cap sleeve version for Summer heat!


I love the finished neckline of this dress, the multiple sleeve options, and the ease of wear -- throw on a pair of under-shorts and she's good to go. I'm not a fan of drafting between more than two sizes, but this one's loose in the shoulders so it appears I should have made it a 4, or maybe even a 3 wide (as she actually measures) by 6 tall -- I just can't get my head around the fact that's she's still a 3 wide! On the other hand, there's definitely room to grow; we'll have this one for a while, plenty of time for it to sit in a laundry pile while I sew a few more.

Perfect, simple knit dress. Anywhere Dress from Go To Patterns | The Inspired Wren for the Make Laundry, Don't Do Laundry 2016 Tour
This perfect fabric is an interlock knit from Jo-Ann Fabric's Doodles Collection: Butterfly Garden, Mint [affiliate link]


Now put down that laundry, and set aside the sewing for a moment, to enter and win one of these great packages...
Thanks to all of our amazing sponsors for being a part of this tour.

A few of the designers are having sales for the duration of the tour, so here's the codes!George & Ginger use code MAKELAUNDRY25 for 25% off her patterns Blaverry use code MAKELAUNDRY for 25% off her patterns Stitch Art use code MAKELAUNDRY for 30% off patterns Paisley Roots use code MAKELAUNDRY for 25% off patterns These codes are good through June 12th! Then Laela Jeyne's Emily Womens T-shirt & the Deluxe Charlotte Kids Leggings are on sale through the 11th! No code needed! I know everyone loves a good giveaway so here's the prize packages:

Link-up Prize Package
Prize Package 1
Prize Package 2
   

Ren Murphy writes for The Inspired Wren.

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You should really see all that goes into each project!
From my marathon sewing sessions, to all that I do when I #shouldhavebeensewing catch daily updates on Instagram (and Flickr) of works-in-progress. Get that behind the scenes view you’re looking for, and sneak peeks of upcoming tutorials, too.
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