Skip to main content

The Story of a Dress


I picked up this dress pattern and a couple yards of Amy Bulter fabric last summer with grandiose plans (I'm quite adept at making the plans, it's the execution where I struggle) of making a dress for a wedding over Labor Day weekend. When the dress didn't materialize for the wedding, I shifted goals and decided it would be my "cruise dress" for mid-September.

Fast forward to this Spring. Pattern and fabric continue to collect dust. I'm torn between making the dress and only getting to wear for a few months (weeks?) before baby belly balloons and not making the dress and not getting to wear it until next year.

I decide to press on and I finish dress before I'm even showing and now, at 24 weeks pregnant, it still fits perfectly. Many guess it's a maternity dress, of which I'm not sure if I should take offense. I decide to take as compliment.

The stats:
Pattern: Built by Wendy Dress, Style 3835
Fabric: Amy Butler, Lotus Collection, 2+ Yards
Time to Make: 2 evenings
Favorite Part of Dress: Pockets! All dresses should have them!
This being my first sewn garment in quite a while, I forgot how much quicker sewing is than knitting. From cutting the pattern pieces and fabric to sewing the final hem, this dress only took two work nights to complete. The pattern is intuitive and easy to follow, with plenty of opportunity for creative alterations. I stuck to the pattern as written for the most part, but cut for a larger size on the bottom to accommodate my er, pear shape. It worked out well and left some room for my expanding baby belly.
This dress has been finished for a few months and has already seen a lot of wear - usually once a week to work (hey, my maternity wardrobe is still pretty meager), a bridal shower, and some other more dress up occasions.
It's a winner!
Pretty neckline gathers
Oh, and thanks everyone for your comments on my last post! The quilt progresses and will make an appearance soon!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Box Bag Tutorial

A couple of you inquired whether I made this pouch based on a tutorial or pattern and if not, if I could provide one. Ask and you shall receive! I've learned so much from tutorials out on the internets, I'm happy I can give back for once. Bear with me, though. This is my first tutorial and creating one is much tougher than I imagined. I give anyone who's created a tutorial tons of credit! I feel obligated to preface this by admitting I'm a trial and error sewer. I make things up as I go along and test things during the sewing process to see if I'm achieving my desired results. Also, I taught myself to sew just playing around on a sewing machine, so I don't always use text book methods. Just wanted come clean before you all jump into this and so you have a little understanding if I did something in a backass way. The pattern works, which is all that matters to me! Because of the versatility of this pattern, my instructions can be used more as guidelines. You can ...
66 comments
Read more

Done: Weekender Bag

Happy 2007! I hope you all had a good time ringing in the new year. I have some lofty goals for this upcoming year and some musings on last year, but that's for another post because-- Finally! (the top looks kind of bumpy. I think it looks crisper when I'm holding it.) Pattern. Weekender Bag by Amy Butler Exterior Fabric. Amy Butler, Sunbloom Collection Cording Fabric. Amy Bulter, Charm Collection Lining. Khaki Fabric from Joann's I relied a lot on the tips from other bloggers who made this bag and wanted to give something back to the blogging community, so here are my.... 10 THOUGHTS & TIPS ON THE WEEKENDER 1. Dominating the cording. As the layers increased in the sewing, keeping the cording sandwiched in place became challenging. I had the best luck pinning the fabric together parallel to the fabric edge, rather than perpendicular. Stopping so often to remove pins got a little annoying, but was better than ripping and resewing. 2. Topstitching = Enemy number 1. I d...
12 comments
Read more

WIP: February (Little) Lady Sweater

  I’m generally not one to reknit patterns, reread books or rewatch movies. That said, once in awhile I come across one of the aforementioned that warrants repeating. And repeating. And repeating. I can’t get enough. It’s the reason I’ve watched National Lampoons Christmas Vacation 400 times, memorized most episodes of Sex and the City and Seinfeld and it’s the reason there is always at least one Elizabeth Zimmermann’s baby sweater on the needles. Mostly the Baby Surprise Jacket (the surprise gets me every time. Seriously, how does that strange stretch of fabric become a sweater?!), but also the February Baby (or Lady!) Sweater .  There’s just something about that gull stitch pattern that makes this sweater fly off the needles. There’s enough to it to keep my interest, but it’s not so taxing I can’t multitask or memorize the pattern. And the garter stitch yoke / lace body combination makes the sweater appropriate for any season, isn’t too girly, and has that little extr...
Post a Comment
Read more