Easter Dress 2017

Hello! Welcome back and happy belated Easter! I am so pleased to have a hand made Easter dress this year, which is something I haven't had since I was very wee. This is my first handmade Easter dress that I have made myself! There are few things more satisfying than having a custom garment for a specific event.  Sewing is super cool guys.

For this project, I chose the fabric before I had a specific pattern in mind.  It's a navy floral rayon from Joanne's. My philosophy for spring/ summer projects is, when in doubt, go with rayon. It is definitely one of my favorite fabrics. I've not found anything quite as floaty, breathable, and soft.

I loved the idea of a dress with a tie at the front, similar to the Sew Over It's Pussy Bow Blouse. Unfortunately that pattern doesn't include a dress version.  I'm sure I could have altered that pattern fairly easily to make it into a dress, (Lisa has done this multiple times) but I am very lazy. It finally occurred to me to look at my pattern stash, at which point I realized I already owned exactly what I was looking for: Simplicity 8216, and I'm pretty sure I got it on sale for a dollar. Note to self: remember that you have a stash.

I made view B which is a a dress version with cropped sleeves. I only made a couple of minor alterations to the pattern. I made it in a size 14, but due to the straight shift shape, it was a little snug around my bum. Luckily I was able to take the bottom seam allowance down to 3/8 and it fit much better. This view also called for an elasticated waist, which I had put in originally, but I was not very happy with it. The elastic channel hit me a couple of inches lower than than my natural waist, which made it creep up to my smallest point. That created a lot of volume at the top of the dress that I didn't want, and it also drew up the bottom of the dress, which was already a little shorter than I wanted. I ripped out the elastic, and decided the wear it with a belt, because that is much easier.

I made one more minor change, which was to swap the buttonholes for snaps on the cuffs.  Because the cuffs are so narrow, my buttonhole foot kept getting hung on the bulk of the seam allowances. Unpicking a botched buttonhole makes snaps look like a magical cure-all, which they kind of are.

I am very happy with how this dress turned out. I like making things that are casual for every day, but it's nice have something a little dressier in the mix. I was worried about the length of the dress initially, as I prefer a midi length, this seemed very short by comparison. However, the more I wore it, the more comfortable I felt. Also my mom said it looked fine. You can't go wrong if your hem length is mother approved.

Also, special thanks to my dad for helping me get all these artsy shots!