On January 1st, 2008 I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't buy any new clothes for an entire year. I was allowed to buy second hand (most often from Buffalo Exchange downtown) and if I wanted something new, I had to make it myself. The point was to try to force myself to learn how to make a variety of different types of clothes. As with most of my overly-ambitious crafting adventures, things didn't work out quite as I had planned (i.e. I didn't make nearly as many clothes as I thought I would.) The first thing I made was a dress for our friends' wedding that spring. I started with McCall's pattern M4826, and modified it to add a panel insert to the front of the skirt.
I had zero expectations for how it would turn out, so I was pleasantly surprised when it actually fit! (The duct tape dress form Jared helped me make helped a ton.)
The next dress was for another wedding and this time I used Simplicity 2951. In hindsight, I wish I'd used a cotton fabric (maybe in navy) instead of satin. Something about the light colored satin and the shape of the dress made it feel slightly too young for me, but I'm still happy with how it turned out. The fit was even better than the first dress, and when it was done I felt like I was actually starting to get a hang of this whole dress making thing.
(ignore the bumpiness of the dress form)
The third dress was for - you guessed it - another wedding. I've always loved the simplicity and ease of matte jersey wrap dresses (perhaps from my days working retail at Banana), so I decided to try DKNY pattern V1027. It was such an easy dress to make (especially compared to the first two!) and it's super comfy to wear.
Bodice front
Bodice back
Full dress from the front
Full dress from the back