Helz Yeah Rule #3!

Rule #3 of my eco-fashion project is to sew more of my own clothing, and after starting with the rules in February, I've finally actually made myself a dress!

This weekend was my good friend's wedding, and I decided a long time ago that I would try to design and make my own dress to wear to it. That way I've made something for my lovely rule #3, and also wouldn't have to spend $$ on a new dress. Of course even though I had this plan in my head for months, I didn't start the dress until a week ago, and I finished it the night before the wedding. It's OK though, it worked out great! I got it done!

Sewing late into the evening...

The first thing I decided to do before making this dress (and probably the reason I procrastinated so much) was to make my own slopers. For those who might not know the sewing lingo, a sloper is essentially a very basic pattern that fits my exact size. I make it customized to my measurements, and then I can alter the sloper to draft more complicated patterns. It ended up not being as hard as I imagined, and now I have something I can use again and again to make clothes that fit me perfectly!

The next step was to start drafting the pattern for the dress. The final design might not look too complicated, but believe me it took some working out. Let's just say that pattern drafting is a really good way to practice your fraction adding skills.

Stella was helping by, um, keeping all the patterns safe?

Then putting it all together was pretty straight forward, no major problems. I used this very pretty blue and green patterned polyester fabric my friend no longer wanted. So except for a couple of hours of my own time, the dress was essentially free. Oh and I conquered my fear of invisible zippers! I honestly don't know how I didn't figure them out at MassArt, but all I did was watch a youtube video and it was the easiest and most amazing experience. The zipper just disappears! Magic. Highly recommend.

And tada! The final product! I was pretty happy with it (as you can see by my grin - though that might also have to do with the awesome wedding, and a few glasses of wine).

 

 

Thanks to Eric for the photo!