Jersey Knit Sun Dress

My latest love is jersey knits.  They are so comfortable, they drape well and they don't need zippers! I have a stack of knits just waiting to become dresses, so stay tuned.  Anyway, I had this idea that I could Frankenstein a pattern from New Look 6571, view A, with a flared skirt from some other pattern I have.  It worked out pretty well actually.  It's a super easy pattern that probably takes me a total of 2-2.5 hours from start to finish.  So that's obviously awesome.  These will be great dresses for late summer when it's just too hot to want to wear anything with much fuss.  They're also probably pretty nice in the spring with the right cardigan.  So I have made 3 attempts so far, and still have not perfected it.  Here's the progression....

Dress 1.
Too wide in the bodice, so it exposes my bra straps, and hangs too low.  I also need to make it a little shorter, but not too much.  I love this fabric!:

Dress #2.

I had a daisy shirt years ago that I wore all the time, so I saw this fabric and it was almost exactly like the shirt I once loved, so I had to have it.  I realized pretty quickly that it does;t really work for me anymore, but I made the dress anyway.  I also made this one way too tight and way too short, so all around it's just not right for me:

Dress #3.

The print on this one is ok, but feels a little drab for my taste.  I'm pretty sure I got the fit right on it this time, but I decided to get creative and dip the neckline.  It really changed the look, and I don't like it.  Maybe it's just me.  I will be making more of these.  They are so quick and easy, and I WILL find the right combination!

Still Seeking The Perfect Sun Dress

I can never find a good basic sun dress at the mall.  We don't have the best shopping in my little town, and even on the internet, it's hard to find what I'm looking for.  Basically I just want something that is fit and flare with spaghetti straps.  I did finally find this nearly perfect dress at Old Navy.  It still doesn't have the exact silhouette I was looking for, but I was pretty happy with it, so I bought it, and traced it & made a pattern from it:

It's hard to see from the photo, but the bodice doesn't taper in well at the front, and I haven't tried to alter that just yet, but I did add pockets.  I just love having pockets on a dress :)!  The princess seams didn't come out exactly right, but I actually didn't do too bad with my first reproduction.  This was my first ever attempt at my own pattern, so I learned a lot from it!  And yes, I still need to work on my zippers:

For my second attempt, I moved the princess seam inward a little, but they still need to come in even more, and they need to taper in some toward the waist to fit my shape.  I set the pockets a bit too low, as you can see in the last picture.  This one looks cute, but I used a basic cotton fabric because I saw it & just loved the print.  So it wrinkles a little too easily, but for something I will wear occasionally it's totally worth it:

This pattern definitely requires a fabric that drapes well.  It might even be fun to try in a soft jersey knit.  I tried a pink floral linen-like fabric, and while the fabric is beautiful it's just too heavy for this pattern.  But my zippers and pockets are getting much better.

Dresses For My Daughter

These were all done over the last year.

I've made several of these super easy skirts New Look 6172.  I don't have any good pictures, but they're all wrinkled and stained anyway, because she is 6, and even in her pretty clothes, she plays like a 6 year old :).  This is the only one I can find, and I made her a matching bow tie for "bow tie day" at school:

For her first dress, I used New Look 6204.  She chose from the quilting cottons at Joanne, because there are SO many fun fabrics in that section, even though they wrinkle like crazy.  She loves butterflies, so we made her a butterfly dress:

 She loves it.  And she doesn't even care that I didn't get the fit quite right in the bodice.

 Next I wanted to try New Look 6202. She wanted ladybug colors, so that's what she got.  I only wish I'd made a belt:

So this last one was made in February 2015.  I've gotten better, and love to mix and match patterns, and even draft my own.  So for this one, I used a soft cotton jersey fabric that I had purchased with something else in mind.  I realized the print is way too youthful for a dress for mommy, but so perfect for her.  I mostly used parts of the pattern used for the ladybug dress, in an attempt to create something like the "skater dresses" they're selling at Childrens Place.  This is my favorite, and she lovvvvves it!  I will be definitely making more of these:

Back to the Maxi Dress

March 2014
A close friend of mine showed up at the playground wearing the cutest maxi I had seen yet, and I wish I had a picture (I think it was a Lilly Pullitzer), but anyway I fell in love and wanted to try to recreate it. I found this pattern Simplicity 1420 View C, and the cut is very similar.  So I found some jersey knit at fabric.com, and dove into a much more difficult pattern.  I struggled through several steps, and even had to stop for a few days to figure out how to do one step, but I completed it, and I think it turned out pretty nice, even though the pleats are on the wrong side of the skirt portion (oops).  The best part? No zippers! Unfortunately the colors and print don't really work on me, so I've only worn it once:

Learning to Sew: First Dresses (aka Fail Dresses)

February 2014
When I set out to learn dressmaking, I was all about the maxi dresses at the time.  So I found this very easy pattern - McCall's 6559.  I headed to Joanne & bought some stretchy navy blue fabric.  I didn't know much about fabric, so I ended up with something that just didn't work well for this style... not that it mattered, because my execution would have destroyed the dress in any fabric:

No problem, I'll just get a heavier fabric, and maybe try a higher neckline.  It's ok from afar, but far from ok:

This pattern has not been attempted again.

So scratch the maxi, and go for a sun dress.  I can never find a good basic strappy sun dress, and I could wear them all the time in the summer.  So I found another easy pattern: New Look 6459 and went for view E with no belt.  My first attempt was horrible.  I love the concept I had in mind of navy blue with pink straps and exposed pink zipper, but a. I thought using bias tape for straps was a good idea (not), and b. this was my first zipper. The last thing I should have done is tried to expose it :/.

I made myself a pink tail!  And check out that sexy bra.  Yeah this one went to the fail pile, but I tried again, in a cute cotton poplin.  I did better on the zipper (still not very good), but I don't much like the way poplin works on this dress.  I'd like something that drapes better around the waistline:

I'll probably give this pattern another go sometime.

So I tried another sun-dress style pattern New Look 6557, view C.  This one has a cute waistband, which I think I was drawn to after the waistline issue with the last dress.  Unfortunately this didn't work for me at all.  I love the drape of this fabric (rayon challis), but it didn't work well at the waist. Maybe I needed a thicker interfacing at the wist or something.  It just seemed so flimsy and unnecessary, and really just messed up the bust for me.  Still working on those dang zippers. Also, I made it a little too short, so with that low neckline it's totally hoochie (ok, maybe if I was 18, but I'm very much not)... off to the fail pile: