Cleo is compelled to dress like a lady

Katie and Sophie took Cleo aside and explained firmly that her clubbing dress would not work for job-hunting in Phoenix. It was imperative that she acquire a more suitable outfit, preferably one that would also keep her cool and shaded in the merciless summer sun.

I followed the instructions for the elastic-waist sundress from My Froggy Stuff. I am still mildly amazed that I was able to do the "zigzag the elastic directly onto the line for the waist" part correctly, but it helped that the fabric has a strong grid pattern. The belt is a bit of leftover trim from the Hipster House's living-room drapes.

All that shirring gives Cleo more shape than she naturally has, but girl looked like she needed a sandwich.

The hat trim required almost an entire bag of random sewing-notion bling from the sadly diminishing craft aisle of the Thomas Road Walmart.  The owl approves. 

From initial dithering to photo session, the entire project took about 90 minutes including winding a bobbin, rethreading the sewing machine multiple times, pausing to make carrot halwa, figuring out where I might have put a safety pin, letting the cat out, dithering over whether to elasticize the waist, practicing sewing the zigzag stitch four times because I'd never done that before, digging through the stash for tiny snaps for the belt, discovering that the needle large enough to be easy to thread is too large to fit through the holes in the belt snaps, putting the cat in, and letting the hot glue gun heat.

So from just a sewing perspective, the next dress should go a lot faster, especially as the carrot halwa was a bit of a time sink. Meanwhile, it may be difficult to pry Cleo off the patio of the Tapatio Cliffs Resort. She was supposed to be applying for a restaurant hostess job, but it's a long wait for the next bus down the mountain.