Grey and Pink Dress for Me

This dress.   Love it, love it, love it.

Looking at it one way, this dress was made in approximately one month.  In another way, I've been at this dress for over a year.   I started learning to draft clothing patterns over a year ago because I wanted to be able to make myself church clothes that actually fit.

I can finally say I've accomplished that goal because this dress:

1) is made entirely from scratch, pattern and all

2) it fits well (and is, therefore, very comfortable to wear)

3) its church clothes - even a full dress (not a cop-out skirt and top combo) and

4) its properly constructed (meaning all the proper parts are there and are sewn together in the right order with proper technique - not the case for my Beginner Dress of summer 2013).

My inspiration was two dresses on Pinterest - I took parts of these two dresses that I liked and mashed them together into one dress.

There were a few mistakes or wrong turns along the way.   Most of them I was able to fix on my own - the only remaining weird thing is this totally unnecessary seam all the way down the center back.  I changed my mind on the center back zipper halfway through the process, but couldn't recut all the pieces.  Only someone who sews would notice that its a nonfunctional seam (and not all that decorative) so it could have been removed.  

I put an invisible zipper in the side seam instead (from under my left arm in the photo below to just below my hip).  That lead to an interesting conversation with Grace - she was baffled because she couldn't see the zipper when it was finished.  

"Mom, I can't see the zipper." 

"I know.  That's why its called an invisible zipper, Grace."  

"Yeah, Mom, but it wasn't invisible when you were sewing it in there. I saw it then." :)

I guess Moms-who-sew can do some pretty cool magic and make things invisible.  :)  

Final analysis: 

Some things I'd change about the dress: 

1.  The fabric is just a tad stiff/bulky.  I got it at Mill End years ago because I liked the classy grey color/weave.  I have no idea what the content is - my guess is a polyester mix.

2. I flat-lined the bodice in muslin and that turned out to be unnecessary and contributed to bulk. 

3.  I'd get rid of that center back seam. 

Things I love about it: 

1.  Color

2.  Fit in general, but I love the color-blocked waist especially.  Its drafted from scratch and came together like a dream.  It actually sit at my true waist, which no ready-to-wear dress has ever done.  

3. Pretty proud of the armscyes and sleeves from scratch.  A few years ago I was terrified of sleeves on commercial patterns and never would have thought I could draft my own.  They can still use a little tweaking...

4.  Love the bias cut skirt.

5.  Love the fact that I understood what I was doing as I was making it!  

The best part is I now have a master pattern for myself so I can now go to town making church dresses by just tweaking little things here and there.  Subsequent dresses should come together smoothly and fit great!