TheKninja: First (Day of School) Dress

Hello! I made it back to my blog. And I made a dress. What? I sew? I've been trying to learn to sew for a few years now. I've been taking classes at NYFA for some time here and there. This Monday I finally started going full time as a certificate candidate. Back to school!

This isn't actually my first dress, but it's my first "real" dress - made of a woven, with shaping, and actually wearable.

I have pockets.

And no back!

Peek-a-boo

I used my sloper and converted it to a princess seam bodice. Then I converted the back to be open and to close with elastic as a slip-on. Zippers still make me nervous. The wide, navy blue elastic exactly covers my bra strap. The skirt is my sloper skirt in the front. In the back I used my sloper skirt back placed 5" from the fold to accommodate my hips to get it on and off. Then I let it gather over elastic encased in the waist band.

The fabric is a cotton I stashed abut a year ago from ebay, I think. I still have over a yard of it left. I lined it with a sheer brown fabric some one gave me for free.

I like this design for a casual sun dress. I'm going to make it again right away! I'm going to shorten the bodice by 1" and try using wide elastic for the entire waist band.

Here I paired it with tan accessories. The bag is Coach from years ago when I worked corporate office jobs. The shoes are thrifted.

Matchy-matchy!

I'm a goofball.

I also paired it with my Audrey in Unst cardigan, a pattern from Twist Collective that I knit a few years ago. I should have taken some detail shots. The fabric has pretty, stylized flowers on it with light blue, navy, and green. The sweater picks up the green perfectly.

Here are a few pictures of me dancing around the garden in my me-made outfit. I'm so happy. I've wanted for years to be able to make pretty dresses to match all the sweaters I knit up. I'm finally starting to have the skills to make that happen. Yeah!