April’s Me-Made Dress
Say hello to April’s me-made dress. I asked my Tiktok which fabric to pick and this one won hands down!!! I am not normally a big print type of gal but the dusty pink and retro florals called to me one trip to Spotlight! And I’m glad I grabbed it to try something different. This month I really wanted to challenge myself to make a slightly more complex dress style with butterfly style sleeves. That is the perfect thing about sewing in rayon fabric – you really can’t beat the drape and flow which makes up for its slightly slippery nature. The end result is this beautiful soft, almost flirty style dress which literally feels like butter when it’s on.
This is a half wrap style dress – the kind of pattern I had been avoiding until now. I remembered I had a similiar style dress in storage that was made with black fabric which I don’t wear anymore since creating my capsule wardrobe in 2018. I was able to cut up that dress to get a better understanding of the different pieces involved and to be able to cut and modify my own pieces to my current dress size. The half wrap front meant I was gonna have to really work on fitting the bodice around my shoulders and bust so it doesn’t completely fall open as I move. Thankfully with a lot of pinning and experimentation I think I got the right placement and then used some sew in press studs to keep that wrap part extra secure.
The original dress had some elastic through the waist as well as a tie and I loved that look. Being able to keep the overall cut of the dress loose but being able to tighten it around the waist for some shape. I will confess initially when I finished sewing it all together and added the tie at the front it reminded me too much of a dressing gown (maybe it was also because it was so comfortable). Thankfully my instagram peeps reassured me that it doesn’t look like a dressing gown at all and to maybe try the tie at the back. Winner!!
- Pattern – Self drafted off an old dress
- Fabric – Stemed Floral Rayon in Dusty Pink 5 metres (Spotlight)
- 5mm Elastic – East Coast Fabric
- Clear Plastic Press Studs – Spotlight
My other Me-made dresses
