Dresses!

The skirts were old news. I've just been lazy about posting them. My new obsession is dresses! That's what I had originally planned on doing with my sewing skills, but I had to try skirts for practice. Plus, new skirts will need new shirts, whereas a dress is an outfit all in one! :)

My first attempt was this one:

This one gave me more trouble than it should have only because I followed directions instead of listening to my gut. All three tutorials said to double your bust measurements, but I disagree. It should be about 1.5 times instead. Needless to say, I had to take it in which was a dangerous procedure given all of the elastic thread throughout the bust. I saved it from coming all undone with some fabric glue and another fold over. I won't make that mistake twice. Aside from that error, this was a super fun project and a perfect first summer dress.

My next dress was from a book where I cut out the pattern and followed all of the steps, including adding bias tape to the neckline and arm holes. That wasn't bad at all! No mistakes on that part.... just the overall fit. As you can see, it's a giant triangle. Even belted, it was puffy in the bust and gave me some sort of bell shape around my hips. Not the greatest look, though I did like the swing in the skirt part.

What I had to do was lay another dress of mine on top, then work from that. I spent more time taking it in (basting, trying it on, rebasting, etc) than actually sewing it all together. There is less swish in the skirt, but it fits much better in the torso (and still no zipper or buttons). Finally, the finished product!



The question remains... which ones should I bring with me to California??

And a BIG thank you to Matt for allowing me to leave all of my sewing stuff out and around (mostly on the dining room table like it's a 3rd person) for the last few weeks. You're the best! I would sew you something, but I don't know how to make men's clothes...