Dress – Hopefully Creative

Blue Bird Dress

Two versions, one winner!

As usual around this time of year, there was a large event looming and I wanted a new outfit. My recent Simplicity sewing magazines had asymmetrical dress patterns and they spoke to me. They were Simplicity Naaimode 72, model 24-26, which is the equivalent of Simplicity 9886 (and the plus size version: Simplicity Naaimode 74, model 28-30, aka Simplicity 9887). They also spoke to my stash of 10 lengths of 1 meter of Scuba Crepe Jersey Fabrics that came in a Surprise Box in 2022. Since I hoped I could combine three of those fabrics to make a nice dress.

Asymmetric dress with dark gray, medium gray and light blue sections

I started by copying the pattern and cutting it out in a dark grey, lighter grey and light blue fabric. I made two alterations to the original version. 1) I didn’t put in a zipper, since this is all stretch fabric. 2) I cut the light grey back pieces in one since I didn’t have to accommodate the zipper. As you can see, this one was just too big, especially in the back. I pinched out around four centimeters on the side and that was a lot better, but the pockets were also way too low, the colours seemed a bit muted for a fun occasion and I was just unhappy with it.

Asymmetric dress with black, blue with birds and light blue sections

Then came the most complex alteration I’ve ever done in my life. Trying to make this thing smaller along strategic points instead of just the side seams. In the end: I took out 2 cm along center front and center back, tapered the side seams in from 1-ish cm to nothing in the waist, removed the pointy bit around the center back because there was still no zipper, took in the darts and princess seams by a cm, raised the pockets by about 5 cm and made them bigger, shortened the sleeves and scooped out the neckline. I made adjustments to every paper pattern piece there was, and some are a little bit fudged, but it fits so much better!

These pockets are at a much more comfortable height and the back fits so much smoother than the original version. I just turned the neckline under once and stitched it down, and same with the hem. The hem was with coordinating thread colours and I’m quite proud of it. It looks very neat. I also added some belt loops to the sides that almost disappear into the fabric, which is nice.

While working on the pockets, they gaped a little bit more than I would have liked, so the inside of the fully blue pocket was visible on that side. This bugged me so much that I ripped part of it out, added a patch of the light blue, and sewed it all back together again. So much better! The pockets also really wanted to just float around anywhere, so I anchored them with little straps to the approximate center front of the dress. Now they never end up on the back of my hips and I can put stuff in there, it’s supported and basically invisible.

I like this dress, it’s appropriately swooshy and has pockets and this colour combination is so much better for me than the original. I felt I learnt a lot with the alteration and now I’ve at least used some of that mystery box fabric!

Letter Dress

Reading zippers and secure pockets.

For the last big work event of the year, I made a dress with a statement zipper. I found some teal-ish? slightly stretchy fabric on the market last year, and thought it would work well. I chose a pattern for a mandarin collar dress with bishop sleeves from Etsy. I’m currently thinking that it was possibly an AI pattern and not necessarily tested by real people. The image didn’t match the line drawing, very weird fonts, no particular instructions, stuff like that.

I cut out the pattern and put it all together. It was supposed to have buttons down the front, but that didn’t really work as it would become too tight, so I took the leap and made it a zip front dress. I’ve had this letter zipper in the hoard for several years, and have wanted to use it for a work thing forever. I originally put on the bishop sleeves and it didn’t look great. Way too big in this particular fabric. So I cut off the bottom and hemmed them a lot shorter. I also had to take in the center front from about bust up and I shortened the whole dress.

Detail of zipper with alphabet teeth and collar in a teal dress

The last change I made was to do a completely different style of pocket: Loom & Stars, an Ingenious Pocket. I followed the same principle but made my pocket closer to the front and with a more rounded shape at the top. I really like this pocket. It feels very secure and like you know where your stuff is going to be on you. I also added a little loop in the top of the right pocket to hang my keys.

This dress was very nice to wear, so I’m very happy with the results. It will also be a great dress to throw on when I’m still in bed but the doorbell goes, zip front is quick!

Book Dress

Wrapping text in flowy book shelves.

Sometimes you see a dress and decide that you want something like it too. At least, that’s what happened to me when I saw this pin (original link). The original maker used a fabric printed with their favorite quotes and book spines. I wasn’t willing to spend that amount of money on fabric, so I searched high and low and settled on a quilting cotton fabric called Library Books and an off-white linnen look cotton with Letters (in French, I have no idea what they say).

Then for the pattern, the original was based in part on the walkaway dress, and I liked that idea. However, I didn’t want to have my book shelves go all crooked with a circle skirt. So I decided on a pleated design for the skirt part. For the top, I did want something to wrap, so I tested a vintage pattern reproduction from one of my sewing pattern magazines, but I wasn’t satisfied. So I went back to my tried and true, absolutely butchered Garden Party Dress by Honig Patterns (which no longer exists apparently).

I made some changes to the darts in the back, so that my shelves would stay straightish and extended the side seams for the wrap portions. The skirts were both hemmed before being pleated and the off-white section is a little shorter than the book cover layer. Then I decided that I wanted some sleeves because they always make me feel more comfortable. This was a fiddly business because the ones I put in were too tight, so I did some surgery to add a pleat. I think this worked out quite well.

The off-white layer closes in the back with a skirt hook and eye but is left open along the back seam. There are also pockets in the side seam, because a dress without pockets is just pure evil. For the shelve layer, I added buttonholes so I could button them onto the front along the waistline. I think it worked out pretty well. The overlap isn’t perfect on the sides, but it does enough of the job. It’s pretty comfortable to run around in, so I’m happy. My book dress dreams have finally been realized!

Impromptu Sweater Dress

From flat fabric to dress in less than a day.

This morning after slowly rolling out of bed at 10:20, I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with my day. So I did some hula hooping as a form of exercise and decided that I wanted to wear a sweater dress. Small problem, I don’t have one of those. However, I do have the Lekala Tunic Pattern nr. 4742, the Pattydoo Nelly sweater pattern and a large fabric stash.

I pulled out this sweatshirt type fabric with a soft grey fuzzy backing and got to work. First, I brought the Lekala pattern back to its original state without the shortening required for the flamingo sweater. I grabbed the hood pieces from the Nelly pattern and pinned it all to my fabric. I added a little length to the bottom of the dress pieces and cut it all out. Sewing it went smoothly, only one unpick where I put the center front hood facing bit in the wrong way round.

Hood of sweater dress with gray fluffy inside

Inside of the sweater dress, gray en fluffy

Around 16:00, I had a full dress together and was trying to decide what to do with the sleeve ends. I didn’t really feel like hemming them and then I remembered that thumbhole cuffs *exist*. So I made some of those, following some tutorials on YouTube. The bottom of the dress was hemmed and then I had to mend a tiny hole on the front. 17:15 and the whole thing was done! Less than a working day to finish this thing. It’s nice and warm, just in time for summer (not), and I am yet again certain that I will never participate in a speedy sewing competition…

Red, White & Blue

Everyone needs a ceremony dress with happy ribbons.

I’d only vaguely been thinking about the Convocation ceremony this year when I ran into a fabric that would be perfect. The pattern is fun, but still appropriate for work things. It’s a dark blue with little white bars topped with red blocks. The contrast wide stripes on one end of the fabric would work really well as a hem, I thought. The fabric itself is a thick knit, so easy to work with.

Blue dress printed with white topped with red bars, front

Blue dress printed with white topped with red bars, back

I used a pattern from Simplicity Naaimode 41, model 4, also known as Simplicity 8751, version 2. I made some changes to the original though. I left off the sleeves, as the slight extension on the shoulders looked like it would be plenty. I don’t like drop sleeves. To make sure it would cover enough, I did raise the underarm edge a little. However, the neckline was quite wide so I added some afterthought strips to narrow the neckline. I moved the waistband from the inside to the outside and used the dark contrast stripe from the edge of the fabric. Finally, I had to include some decent pockets!

Blue dress printed with white topped with red bars, hem detail with horizontal red white and blue stripes

Blue dress printed with white topped with red bars, details of pocket

I finished this thing almost a month before the event actually happened! I don’t think I’ve ever been this in time. I didn’t even dally with the hem, which was done sooner than some of the other details. The dress doesn’t have closures, but you make it fit with ribbons in the waistband tunnel. Since I put the tunnel on the outside, I could use those functional ribbons for some extra pizzazz. It worked well and we had a great ceremony!

Blue Dots

Inspiration turning into reality

It is yet again almost time for the next event on my work calendar. This year, I started on time! The deadline for this was mid-June, but I managed to finish it before the end of May! It certainly felt like an accomplishment. The inspiration for this project came about from seeing this pin on Pinterest of a white dress with an overlay at the bodice and a blue edge around the overlay and the hem of the dress.

What I ended up with doesn’t look like the pin at all, but it was heavily inspired by it – don’t ask how my brain works. I found the pattern of a dress with a bodice overlay in Simplicity Sewing Pattern magazine nr. 42, model 18-20, also known as Simplicity 8047, and I really liked it. The pin came into play when I decided I could add a border to the overlay and the hem of the dress. So off to the hoard I went to find fabric. One of the boxes yielded this blue opaque fabric and some white and blue dotted stuff, neither of these I remember buying, so I assume they came from a friend’s de-stash.

I used the markings for the short length and made extra pattern pieces for the dotted band. I chose to cut the size 38 which was a mistake. I had to take the underdress in massively in the bodice, several centimeters at center front and added extra darts in the back neckline. This also lead to some real challenges with the overlay, where I had to take a bunch out at the side seams and wasn’t entirely sure how to even get the neckline and sleeves to behave. After having it sit on the mannequin in desperation for some weeks, I persevered and got something that looked pretty decent.

Of course, event outfits require pockets. While the skirt isn’t tight per se, there is not enough room for bulky items in the pockets to remain invisible. But alas, we carry on. The weather was still dreadful and so cold that I had to wear a layer extra over the dress in order to be warm enough to function. Nevertheless, it did behave well on the day so I’m pretty pleased.

Cousin of the Rita Dress

Useless buttons can definitely add some flair to an otherwise plain dress.

For the opening of this academic year, I started work on a new dress. So I scrolled to my ‘dresses’ Pinterest board and found a pin that I really liked (the Rita dress). Since I still can’t actually draw patterns from scratch, I got out all my pattern magazines and looked for one that could approximately match the style lines of the Rita. Eventually I found the vaguely related Simplicity Naaimode 38, model 13 (New Look 6574 C). In contrast to the Rita, 6574 has raglan sleeves, no waistband, no neckline cut out and less skirt. I didn’t really want the longer sleeves of the Rita and I could do without the high collar, so I figured that the New Look could work out well.

Rita, retrieved from https://www.esterinflow.se/store/p/0/dress-rita-petrol-801421 on 29-8-2023

I drew out all the pieces in my size and it just looked.. enormous. The underarms would end under my bra. So I did major surgery on the pattern. I removed around 3.5 cm from the tops of the bodice and sleeve pieces and redrew some armholes. This may have been a little too much, looking back, but it ended up working out decently well. I added the neckline cut out, which turned out a bit bigger than I expected. I used the tops of the skirt pieces to make a waistband. The New Look skirt was discarded in favour of a circle skirt.

On to the making! The bodice was sewn together and there was so much extra fabric in the back and sides. It would probably have been possible to wear a backpack underneath or something. So some additional major surgery occurred. Then I figured out that there was no way I was closing this thing with the center back zipper I had intended. So I performed more surgery on the sides and added the zip in the left side seam. This also allowed me to fit it a little better along those seams, so no harm no foul. Massive pockets were also needed and this skirt can hold a fair amount of stuff. The sleeves, skirt and cut out are hemmed with bias tape in an almost matching green. There is no lining and it’s slightly see through in the skirt, so I may need to wear a petticoat with it.

The final details were self-fabric buttons. One on each side of the collar and 2 x 5 along the front. They really elevate the dress and I love them. Making the buttons is fun, but attaching them certainly is not. What a tedious process that turned out to be. I finished it the day before the event and it was very nice to wear the next day. I added the zebra top because the weather still thought it was October. While the finished product is only a cousin of the Rita dress and not a twin, and I do really like how it turned out.

Massive Pockets Dress

Bright and happy, never mind the flaws.

Who needs a handbag when you can just have massive pockets!

For graduation this year (yes, only 2.5 months out of date), I made another dress. The design for it came about when I was on the fabric market in Rotterdam and found two fabrics in the same pattern but different colourways. I wanted to have this is a skirt that I’d sort of remembered having seen in a pattern magazine at some point. It had godet inserts, which I thought was pretty cool. So I started planning this whole thing, by finding the patterns – Knipmode 11/2020 Model 15 as skirt with Simplicity 55 model 38 (New Look 6447) as top – and figuring out which bit would be which colour. Then I checked my fabric again and I hated it, not heavy enough for this plan.

So into the hoard I went and I emerged with some lovely blue linnen-type fabric and some striped green cotton-y stuff? The striped fabric was quite thin and prone to fraying but it looked so happy together and I’d wanted to make something out of it for so long. I also grabbed some white cotton for a lining because the stripes were going to be too see-through otherwise.

The plan was to do the inserts, the waistband and the sleeves out of the blue, and the skirt and top out of the stripes. Because I’m not the biggest fan of mock ups, I used the lining as a test. I cut out all the patterns from the New Look 6447 dress model and put them together. However, for the life of me, I couldn’t get it to fit. I resorted to my old staple the Garden Party dress pattern, redrew some of the lines and made the top out of that. I did add the sleeves from the New Look dress because I could make it work. For some reason, the skirt was also weird, so I turned it back to front and that helped a lot. Since this was still the lining, it wouldn’t be seen under the outer skirt so it wouldn’t be a problem.

The outer skirt came together pretty easily, since the stripes were on grain it was fairly easy to cut. I did have to serge everything before it frayed apart. For the large pockets, I cut the top of the insert two additional times, one with a hole for my hand and the other as the pocket back. I love these pockets. So many things can be stuffed in there, while still looking like a cool design feature. It’s amazing.

The top and skirt were connected and I basically applied the waistband on afterwards. I’d originally planned a shaped waistband, but that didn’t work out either, so this was it. It’s also nowhere near where the lining waist seam is, because that one ended up too high. It’s magic how much you can fudge things with a little sewing.

On the day itself, it was quite warm, so I regretted that the lining was a thick as it was. I should’ve lined it with a little thinner cotton, but well, that’s too bad. I do really like the design of this dress, and I finished it way in time for the occasion, which was great. Since the weather has been really shit this whole Fall claiming to be Summer (it’s just about rained every day since June), I’ve not actually worn it much since. It doesn’t really lend itself to tights.

Spur of the Moment

Sometimes Pinterest just sparks your imagination and you’ll make it come to life in less than 24 hours.

Browsing through Pinterest has given me lots of ideas over the years. Recently there was an image of a dress that really tickled my fancy and that I’ve been thinking about on and off. So last Monday evening around 20:00, I remembered that I had an event on Wednesday. I decided that I wanted a new outfit, but if it didn’t work out, I’d have enough in the cupboard to make something work anyway. To the hoard I went to select a piece of fabric. I chose a length of blue synthetic something with a smooth back and an peachy outside.

For the pattern, I decided initially not to look for an actual pattern to but to try and drape something on my dress form. I cut two bits of fabric and attempted to pin the shoulders in place. It didn’t really work as I intended so I moved on to another part. That was the side straps, which involved cutting 4 and sewing them together. By then it was bedtime, so I postponed the further fiddling to the next morning.

At that time I’d decided that I did want some sort of sleevelet unlike the sleeveless inspiration image. I thought it would perhaps work to fold over the sleeves and create some sort of integrated facing. To make my sleeves, I grabbed the bodice pieces from Simplicity 1076 (also used here), and centered them on my fabric pieces. Then I rotated them out so that the sleeve edge would be straight vertical and could be folded in to the center. I sewed the side seams, cut the neckline, made the facing and added pockets.

The fitted waist is accomplished with an identical arrangement of pleats in front and back. They are 5 cm high, 1 cm wide and 5 cm apart. I had no idea if that was going to work, but my pin-try-on indicated that it might, so I just went for it. The side straps are caught in the outer pleats. Once that was all sewn down, I put it on again to mark the button holes. For the first time ever, I sewed buttonholes on my Pfaff! The buttons were added, lovely green ones with a small pattern that I have an entire tube of. Added the hem and sewed the facing edges over. The dress was completed at about 17:20, right in time for a small gathering. All in all, less than 24 hours from fabric to finished dress. Quite a decent turn around! For the event, I chose to wear it with my tiny petticoat for a little bit more oomph. I really enjoyed wearing it.

Graduation Combo

There is no clothing as fun as pants masquerading as a skirt!

A couple of weeks ago on Friday, the first in-person graduation at work took place. The first thing I made was a bit.. too much.. so with three or so days to spare, I set out on a new plan. On the original trip to the Rotterdam market, I’d purchased some plaid on white stretch something. I liked the colours and decided that would be the fabric for this outfit. The other decision I’d already made was that I wanted some sort of fake-pants. I’d made an attempt at the Petit Main Sauvage Culottes in 2018 and decided to give that a go again.

I followed the instructions for a knee length version and promptly went to cutting it out. While trying to get my pattern placement symmetrical, I determined that the fabric had the plaid printed, but that it was printed quite crookedly on one side of the fabric. That lead to some challenges with grain lines etc, but really, what did I expect from fabric that was probably 1-2 euro per meter. The culottes were cut from the ‘straighter’ side of the fabric while I waited for inspiration to strike about the top of the outfit I was trying to make.

In the end, I settled on a tried and mostly true pattern for the top. The Garden Party dress. I grabbed the tulip sleeve pieces that I used for the combo dress and got to work. A nice, somewhat scooped neckline, but not too low because of the 30℃ weather prediction, and no closures (I love stretch). The culottes had some added pockets because running a big event without pockets is not a good idea. The one thing I was left with was the waistband/s. I hadn’t made a plan for that yet. You see, I needed the culottes to be one piece as they needed to come off downwards and I wanted to be able to wear them by themselves. However, the total outfit needed to look like a dress, if possible.

I decided to draft a waistband with a point at the front for the culottes. After sewing it on, it gaped like no tomorrow. I hoped that the application of some laundry would help relax the stitches so I chucked it in the wash (it was Wednesday by now, 2 days to go). Thursday came, the outfit was dried and it hadn’t helped at all. So I unpicked the waistband from the skirt, turned it around and applied it to the top. That looked a lot better! I still had some black mesh laying around from the cover up attempt and made a thin waistband from that for the skirt with some added elastic to hopefully keep the skirt up.

All in all, for such an improvised project, I was very happy with how it turned out. I like the colours, I like plaid, I like how I managed to plaid match along the side seams of the culottes. The thing I should have done was applying snaps so that the top and the skirt could stay together, but I never got round to that, so on the day, I just tugged the culottes up and the top down whenever it felt like the gap was too large. I have no doubts that I will wear those culottes when the weather is good. They are comfortable, prevent chafing but allow a breeze. I’m definitely on team Secret Pants!

Tag: Dress