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!

Comments

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

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

Granola.

In all my years of baking, I don’t think there’s any one food I’ve tinkered with more than granola.  Actually, that’s a lie. Let me try again. Besides chocolate chip cookies, there's no food I've tinkered with more than granola.   But granola! The goal: delicious, crunchy yet chunky enough to eat on its own, and not just dessert masquerading as a healthy snack. Doesn’t sound too hard.  But… the best tasting is inevitably the worst for you (not to name names...Panera copycat recipe). Consistency should not be a trail mix of sugared oats and nuts and fruit. There should be chunks you can hold without crumbling.   So, when I stumbled upon a granola so good the restaurant sends guests home with their own little prepackaged personal sized portion, I had to give it a try. And to document my trials so when I inevitably forget the recipe, I'm writing this post so it’s here waiting and ready. (And maybe, you, too, have been seeking that perfect granola recipe??)