I don’t know about you, but when I’m dressing casually, I typically go for a t-shirt and shorts. After all, I live in Florida, so in July and August, that’s about all I can stand! But when my hubby and I planned a special trip to NYC to celebrate our 25th anniversary, I suddenly decided to step up my style game with some breezy dresses, the type of thing I could wear out for the day and also feel comfortable wearing for dinner if I never had a chance to change.
So, I did what many avid sewists do. Our trip was planned for mid-July, and I went and bought fabric in April. And stared at it in May. And all throughout June. By July 6, I knew I had to get cracking! Thankfully, I had selected easy patterns. In seven days, I churned out two dresses and a skirt. Actually, I made a third dress, but the fit wasn’t right so I didn’t finish it for the trip. In fact, I’ve abandoned it altogether, but that’s a story for another day. Here’s how my makes turned out.
This fabric (I LOVE the little gold arrows)…
became this dress:
I love the look and fit of this dress (Simplicity 8231). It went together very quickly, but I did have to fool around with the neckline facing a bit because it was gaping some. It required some unpicking (as the Brits say–doesn’t it sound so much nicer than “ripping”?) and resewing. BTW, that’s a photo of me outside the Lion Brand Yarn Studio, ’cause you know I had to see it!
And this second piece of fabric…
became this little number:
This silky fabric pairs very well with this pattern (Simplicity 1375), but it is a tad thick for the design of the drawstring waistband because the thickness makes it a little difficult to pull the drawstring as tightly as I would like. I always look for fabric that isn’t too sheer (don’t need to offer a peep show!), but I will take fabric thickness into account when using patterns with drawstrings in the future. Lesson learned, but it’s still really cute!
I’ll post a few more NYC photos soon because you just know I had to make a trip to Mood Fabrics and the garment district!