May’s Me-Made Dress
I’m back with another me-made dress!!! This dress is a re-make (better of course) of my very first self-drafted dress which I sewed in 2019. We already know that I love shirring and a full gathered skirt so this dress style is really the best of both worlds… all tied up together in a neat bow! (pun intended). This cotton fabric has the most gorgeous baby florals printed on it and I think it adds a pop of different colour into my me-made wardrobe. The thing I love about these strappy dresses are they look cute as is but also with a white t-shirt underneath for extra wear. Stitching this dress was a whole heap of fun because I managed to finish it in 1 day while having a working day with Holly Bush from The Bush Collective. I was busy sewing away with my machines while she was doing admin work for her photography business.
I’ve been trying to make sure I have a variety of different dress lengths while doing this 12 month project because I want these dresses to last me for years and through different seasons of life. I was worried this one might have turned out too long to feel comfortable but it was just perfect. Sometimes when I’m self-drafting these types of tiered dresses I worry that the different sections might not look aesthetically pleasing or sit in the right place but this time I was very happy with the outcome. I opted for a more straight edge hem on the top of the bodice rather than the ruffle look of my February dress. I wasn’t sure it would work but turns out just rolling down the hem 1 inch after all the shirring is finished gives that perfect straight look.
The last step was to secure the straps in place. Thankfully I had Holly there to help mark where on the bodice the straps needed to sit to cover my bra straps. I did shorten the straps but I think they still ended up a bit too long which is why I like to have the bows slightly on the back so they don’t get in the way and tickle my ears haha.
- Pattern – Self Drafted
- Fabric – Filigree Flowers Yellow 3 metres (Spotlight)
- Shirring Elastic (Spotlight)
Below is a super rough sketch of the pattern pieces I used for this dress design (without seam allowances and a little bit crooked). Please note, this is not a proper dress pattern or tutorial, but more a document of my process through this journey to make one dress a month for 2022.
My other Me-made dresses
June’s Me-Made Dress
The start of another month means it is time for my next ‘me-made’ dress!!! Life and work kinda got a bit hectic the last few months, so I have been playing catch up with my 12 month dress project, which means I actually sewed 3 dresses in 3 days. But here is my June dress!
May’s Me-Made Dress
I’m back with another me-made dress!!! This dress is a re-make (better of course) of my very first self-drafted dress which I sewed in 2019. We already know that I love shirring and a full gathered skirt so this dress style is really the best of both worlds… all tied up together in a neat
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
March’s Me-Made Dress
Happy March!!! and St Patrick’s day, which this green dress is a happy coincidence. Three months into this challenge and I’m starting to feel a bit more confident with my self-drafting skills… namely sleeves (still very much avoiding having to add zips or stitch any complex designs). I just finished binging season 2 of Bridgerton
February’s Me-Made Dress
February is the month of loooooove… so this soft floral romantic style dress was perfect choice for this months me-made dress!! Actually this is the dress that started me sharing my dress project to Tiktok (and about 21k people fell in love with it and this project) and I get asked where I bought it
January’s Me-Made Dress
Starting off my 12 months of me-made dresses with a bang! I will admit this dress nearly didn’t get made in time for January but here she is! Starting off super simple with this baby doll style. Personally this loose style of dress is my favourite as it doesn’t need any tricky waist lines, sleeves,
