Allegheny Mulligan

Gosh, it's been well over a month since I finished my Allegheny dress, and I finally had a chance to wear it yesterday, although I ended up being too hot later in the afternoon.  But a lot happened in that time.

When I originally posted about the dress, I explained that I'd chosen to work a rib at the bottom rather than a folded hem, and that I'd chosen not to make the dress so short.  A couple weeks later, on the day I had a massive "photo shoot," I took pictures of this dress as well.  And I wasn't crazy about what I saw "on film."  The dress was just too long, and it looked frumpy:

So I set it aside, and a couple weeks after that, I sat down and unraveled a good four inches from the bottom.  I had planned to work the rib again, but in order to have the cable land where I wanted it to, really the only good solution was the turned hem. 

The instructions do include a couple of rounds of decreases on the hem section that is turned to the inside, to reduce flaring.  To further reduce it, I worked the hem in a needle one size smaller.  And to minimize the ridge you get when sewing in a hem, I didn't cast off, but rather sewed the live stitches to the inside, one by one.

You can see one of the decreases here.

Yesterday we finally got some chilly but sunny fall weather, so we decided to go for a walk in beautiful Jackson Park,  just to the south of the Museum of Science and Industry.  And I wore my dress for the occasion.  Here are a few of the pictures Hubby took in the Osaka Garden:

Wearing it with my new mitts and my Neep Heid hat.

I think this above-the-knee length is more flattering, and I was mostly able to avoid the hem flare.  I wore a shirt under it yesterday because this wool is a little scratchy, but I actually prefer how it looks without a shirt.  And I normally wouldn't wear these off-white tights with it, but I wanted to make sure the new length was easy to see in photos! 

One of these days it will be cool enough to wear it again.