Stripey Beach Dress - Burdastyle Anda 7969

Source: romwe.com via Kim on Pinterest

My inspiration was this stripey dress above that I saw on Pinterest. I needed a beach dress for my trip to Hawaii in October and happened to have some fabric in my collection already that was similar. What luck! Of course, I made it at the last minute, so I decided to buy Burdastyle's Anda 7969 pattern partly because it was a similar style to my other beach dress (no sleeves and an empire waist), but more importantly because I could download it immediately and print it from home.

Considering I ended up wearing this almost every day of the trip, I think I would call it my second most successful piece of clothing next to the cowl neck t-shirt.

Pattern adjustments: I omitted the neck facings and lowered the neckline a lot, probably a bit too much, but it is the beach, so who cares. I also used elastic at the waist instead of the front tie. It was just easier to pull on and off that way.

I've noticed that the need/urge for new clothes or accessories for an upcoming trip is my greatest sewing motivation apart from making gifts for other people. I wish I could channel that motivation throughout the year instead of being rushed before a trip.

Shirt #2. Better than shirt #1.

For shirt #2 I decided to switch patterns. It's hot and short sleeves are in order. Well... sort of. Because it's cold as hell in the office and you know I'll end up wearing a sweater every day of the year.

I went with simplicity 4589 and used the ocean blue shot cotton that I was going to use for the other pattern.

It turned out okay. The boobage area is a bit too tight. It was only last week that I realized what FBA means, but I still don't know how to actually make a full bust adjustment. I made this shirt off of my high bust measurement instead of the last shirt which was made from my real bust measurement. No wonder it was so huge. I actually have tiny shoulders.

And I used a smaller seam allowance by mistake, a 3/8 instead of a 5/8 inch seam. That may account for the neckline gaping out. I'm actually wearing the shirt backwards because it looks better this way!

I'm wondering now if I should be taking some sort of clothes sewing class. I just want everything to be perfect immediately and not have to alter patterns every single time. That's not the way it works, though, and maybe a class would help me learn how to do those alterations. I've looked up a couple of classes and some of them want to teach you how to sew before you learn to make clothes. I'm sure there are lots of other quilters out there who branch out into clothes much later. There has got to be a class that fits my skill level.

For now, I'll continue to teach myself and read up online. I think my next pattern will be a summer dress with different cup sizes already built into the pattern.

Finishing

Here it is.

Okay. It's a little big. I think I picked the wrong size... even though I went by the measurements and not the "size". I was trying to do the right thing.

And it is a little stiff, but what can you expect from a quilter's muslin? Still wearable, I think. It looks less prego in person than in photos.

Lots of lessons learned:

1. Always keep your Singer: The Complete Photo Guide to Sewing at the ready. You never know when a term like "ease" will show up and you have no idea what that means. You know that sleeves are a bitch from reading several other clothing blogs, but still.

2. Don't sew your collar on backward. It just doesn't work that way.

3. Allow 12 hours or so for sewing and trying on and eating pizza and questioning the whole endeavor.