I’ve been craving dresses for a couple of months, now. Something pretty that I can put on and not worry about pairing top with bottom. Something that would feel like Spring. So, I went through my folder of pattern pictures, and made a collage of all the ones I kinda-sorta-would-like-to-make.
This was the result:
Round 1
These are the dresses I’d kind of like to make right now—all the patterns in my collection that I’m going “oh, that’s pretty!” over at the moment. Well, not all, as it doesn’t include any magazine patterns, but you get the idea.
Round 2---Finalists
Fortunately, even just throwing this together allowed me to narrow down my focus a bit. From “things I’d like to make” to “Things I’d like to make in the next little while.”
Unfortunately, none of these are really pairing well with the Star Wars sheet in my head… I’m thinking that needs something more full-skirted, to show off the print without too much chopping and dicing.
I think the next phase is going to involve pairing with fabric. The Style pattern (bottom left) seems a bit wintery, so perhaps I should put it off until the fall… on the other hand real sundress weather is a ways off, as well.
Oh, and checking if the patterns are complete. These are all thrift store finds and may contain unpleasant surprises.
… and that’s just the dresses I want to make.
Confession: This post has been sitting in the drafts for a couple of weeks, to the point where a fabric and pattern selection was made, and last night I was finally able to wriggle in to this for a first try-on:
Winner #1, Simplicity 6710
I think I am going to like it, although those gathers below the underbust band/panel thingy are perilously maternity-esque (and I’m not far from looking four months pregnant at the best of times) and will require some taming. I am happy to say that my copious list of fitting alterations seems to have done the trick in that department, at least. My main disappointment is that the 2″ of extra length I added to the tunic, in the hopes of getting a mini-dress, don’t seem like they will be entirely adequate for real-dress wear. So I may have to just wear it with my short-shorts, come summer. Sort of like this.
In case you didn’t recognize it in the crappy iPhone photo, this is the same fabric as the Ruby Blue slip, a dusty-blue polyester crepe. This friggin’ fabric is lucky I like the colour so damn much, because in every other respect it is exactly what I detest in a fibre. It is also not significantly easier to handle when cut on the straight grain, and doesn’t press for shite.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
The color is pretty! I will be very excited to see the finished dress!
Thanks! It’s a bit more intense in the photo than in real life, but it’s the one saving grace of that damned fabric… 🙂
That pattern was my pick for you! Even before I scrolled down!
Looking forward to more photos.
Great minds think alike? 😉
Yaaaay you picked the pattern I wanted you to pick! I am in love with the sleeves on that 6710…will you be putting those in?
Yes, I will. I wasn’t sure so I waited and tried it on without and then with them pinned, and I am liking the look a lot, so they will go on. Which will involve a bit of un-picking but mostly it’s just basted together at this point anyway. 🙂
Also, they are the most insanely simple sleeves ever if you want to copy them—a perfect half-circle.
Good choice. Those are some super fun sleeves but it would stay cool, very fitting for a summer dress.
Yeah… now if I can just get them hemmed evenly… 😉
Cute! And we must be sharing the same brainwave, because I was actually getting ready to do a similar post to this…because I’ve been looking through my patterns dreaming about what I want to sew up too….
I’m sorry. Was there some other option for Star Wars Sheets other than ‘super-funky maxi dress’? I think I missed this somehow.
Because you KNOW Star Wars Sheets need to be a super-funky maxi dress.
That’s a gorgeous color! I am always shocked by how short mini-dresses were in the 60s — I mean, my mother wore some things to her school dances that were positively INDECENT. I’d be tempted to toss the fabric, though. Too many bad experiences with finicky fibers lately.
I think the Simplicity 5549 would work for the Star Wars sheet, unless the print is REALLY large scale. You could do the maxi version…
According to my mother (who graduated high school in 1970) the proper length for a mini-skirt is just even with your fingertips. Though, I’m not sure people didn’t go beyond that… This pattern’s from a bit later, the length problem is because the short version was intended for a top—it’d be fine for a tunic. 🙂
My mom was teaching Grade 4 in the late 60’s early 70’s. She’s talked about how the dress code said no pants for women but the skirts/dresses out there were quite often too short to be practical. They pushed for being allowed pant suits so they could just take the pants off in the evening and wear the tunic as a dress.
Yeah, I love the *look* of a mini-skirt, but in practice I never end up wearing them because I don’t like spending that much time worring if my undies are showing. Except the ones that have shorts-type liner underneath—I wore m last one like that to death. 😉
One of my friends spent a year at a school where the dress code mandated skirts for girls… with a maximum length. WTF?
“and I’m not far from looking four months pregnant at the best of times”
Oh please. You are so not. If you persist with this delusion, remember I am within driving distance of you (10 hours driving, but still) and I have your address and I will not hesitate to smack you up the side of the head.
PS-I am sorry but I am unable to comment on the dress, I wore it once and please don’t take offense, but I intensely dislike this pattern. Big Smiles.
Um, didn’t you GIVE me that pattern in the first place? Yes, I just checked, you totally did! Suck it up! 😉
As for the baby belly… Let’s just say that I’m selective about which photos I post, k? A few years back a friend posted an old photo of me on Facebook, from when my husband and I were first dating. Everyone cooed about my cute little baby belly. Catch? I’m pretty sure that photo was taken at least four months *before* I got pregnant… >_<
damn, she said muttering to herself, she keeps track……………
Muahaha! 😉
Hmmm, I generally stay away from this style since my strategy is to draw attention away from my hips and thighs by highlighting my waist/belly/bust/shoulders. So, my instinct would be that perhaps the top will help camouflage your (non-exsistent, IMHO) belly issues. But maybe my strategy is flawed? Hmmm.
It is a cute top and the color is lovely!
I generally like empire lines for the same reason—they de-emphasize my waist. And I think in the end I will like this one for the same reason—but right now there’s a lot of poof in them thar gathers… 😉
I’m sure this is going to be great – but don’t forget to make butterick 5172. That one is also adorable.
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