Bows and godets

My next inspiration dress comes from Chasing Fireflies.  They have tons of pretty girly dresses.  This dress was done in denim and retails for $238 (ouch!).  Very pretty with lots of detailing, so I can understand why it is spendy.

(click on picture to go to website)

I wanted to do a similar dress, though not quite so detailed.  Not sure I have the patience for all that piecing.  My dress needed to be a girly color, too.

This is a pink stretch denim-like material.  It is quite heavy, so I only did godets on front and back.  I figured more on the sides would have made it too heavy.  I didn’t put in a zipper, as this really has a lot of stretch to it.  I had her try it on, and it fit over her head just fine.  I did princess seams on the front and back, and the pink stripe is a knit.  I like how it turned out, but it seems so plain in comparison to the inspiration dress.  Next time I’ll try it in a woven and do more “fun stuff” to it.

Then here is another oldie but a goodie.  This is a dress pattern I made up last year.  I added a few inches to the skirt and a little to make the arms higher.  I was really stretching to make the 2 yards of fabric I had work for this dress.  Reason?  There was a stitching line through one of the fabric pieces.  Ugh!  I had to use the fabric on either side of the line and there wasn’t quite enough space on either side.  I know I probably got a deal on the fabric with it having that line in there, but still makes it a bit frustrating.  The ribbon I’ve had in my stash for awhile and really like how pretty it looked.  Finally, got to use it on this dress.  The pocket has a layered bit of lace-like fabric over the top of white fabric.

As usual, I like to fully line these dresses.  Makes them more comfy to wear and the construction is actually easier that way.  I don’t have to deal with neck or arm facings, which is more of a pain than fully lining it.  I did bias tape binding on the hem, because I was lazy.  Well, also because it tied the white in from the pockets.  I have both white and cream going on here, which I normally don’t like to do.  I think it works, though.

I have one more thing to show that I made for me, but I’ll wait on that.  I doubt I’ll have any time to sew this weekend, so I need to have something to post next week! 🙂