This dress was intended to be worn at a marriage conference dinner during Valentine’s Day weekend…but that didn’t happen. Ha! What I thought was going to be a pretty straight forward and easy project proved me wrong.
I’m learning that as a beginner, I should probably stick with patterns until I master drafting for my body shape. Learning how to accommodate for my waist-hip proportion is quite a task, as proven with this dress. Nonetheless, after weeks of letting it sit and deciding if I was going to finish it, I did…well, sort of. I will admit that this dress isn’t quite complete, as I do need to finish the hems. But, because I probably won’t look at it for another week or more, I figured I’d share it as is.
I created this dress using the top portion of the Simplicity 1283 crop top pattern and a bodycon dress that was in my closet. The material is a stretch velvet that I purchased through Amazon. Like all stretch fabrics, its important to note which direction has the most stretch. You want to cut your pattern pieces so that the material has the most stretch widthwise. This allows it to contour to your body, in addition to sewing with negative ease (smaller than actual size needed so that its stretches to fit).
After sewing this project, I think that I’ll take a break from stretch material. These last two projects have really tested my patience, skill level, and the ability of my sewing machine. If I am to do this type of dress again, I will definitely have to watch some more sew alongs and possibly upgrade my machine. Ultimately, I’m just glad that it’s wearable. Though, with this weather, it’ll probably sit in my closet until next winter.
Create the Look!
Pattern – Simplicity 1283 + Self drafted – http://amzn.to/2l0NLXl
Material – Stretch Velvet – http://amzn.to/2mAfGtG
What do you think?
Let me know what you think of this outfit in the comments.