Birth of a Dress

After getting so many compliments on my "Date Night Top" I decided I wanted to try my hand at dressmaking. This was a good idea at first, but I now know that you can't take the concept for a top, and directly put it into making a dress. After banging my head against a wall a few times, I began to understand what I needed to do to make the dress how I wanted it to be. I'm still making modifications, so it's not done yet...but here are the first stages of the birth of my new dress....

I saw this fabric at the store and thought it was super fun! I love the Tiffany blue and chocolate combination.

I got all of my materials laid out, cut out my pieces, and got started! I decided to start with the assembly of the top, because it can be a little tricky to sew.

Pulling the fabric through that tiny little ring and stitching it on evenly AND straight...kind of a nightmare. But it's worth it!

Love it!! One neatly sewn piece of fabric on a metal ring...this could come in handy with a lot of projects.

I gathered the back next by sewing a casing for my elastic and threading it through. This ended up being way too long, too much fabric, etc. This is one place I had to make some serious adjustments, and I'm still not totally happy with it.

I sewed my top piece onto the front dress piece next, just to get a good judge of length and how it would look.

I sewed the who dress together then realized that it didn't fit right. This is where pinning and trying things on is a good idea. Oh well....I was feeling a little brave that day! That's what my handy-dandy seam ripper is for! I'll be posting more pictures once I get the dress to where I want it to be...and of course a picture of me wearing it!