Sheet Dresses

***Apologies in advance for the yucky photo quality; my phone didn't want to cooperate and my camera is off with my aunt taking photos of whales.***

I will be working at a local farmers market this weekend, and - in case you've never been to a farmers market - this means that I will be outside, in the heat. I love the South, I love the Summer, but I don't love being sweaty. Eww. 

I also am planning on sewing up a dress out of some linen fabric I bought a year ago. But I wanted to make a test dress first, so I used a thrift-store sheet, a dress I already owned, and a few hours out of the morning.

I laid my dress out on some newspaper and traced the rough shape around it.

Then I cut the pattern out.

I used the french-seam method and sewed the front and back together. Next I pleated the front and back so the neckline wouldn't be huge. Then I made binding from the leftover fabric and bound all of my raw edges.

It kinda looks like a maternity dress at this point. But that's alright, because the next thing I did was to whip out a matching belt!

At a later date I'll add waistband elastic, but for this weekend, the belt will be A-OK. 

Before I make the linen version, I'll be modifying the pattern by adding bust darts to the front, narrowing the sleeves, and taking out some of the excess fabric.

I took the time to document another dress I made a few weeks ago. I was testing out a pattern I bought - it was a failure. You can't tell from the photos, but this dress does.not.fit. It has inspired me, however, to just buckle down and create a basic pattern from my own measurements so that I don't have to keep dealing with ill-fitting patterns. It will make for less-stressful sewing.

I'll leave you with the happier images of "fluffy doggy", as he's been nicknamed:

♥ Sarah