The other day I showed you the shorts I made with this fabric, which really were the bonus project (although my 'done thing' really does seem to be making dresses and matching shorts at the moment!).


Today I am excited to show you my 'real' garment for this challenge. With some help from a print out from fashionary along with some moral (and creative) support from Mel I came up with the design for this dress.

I used my bodice block and pencil skirt patterns and 'mushed' them together at the waist. This was a little tricky as the darts were very different widths on the bodice and skirt fronts, but I managed it (although mushed is definitely the best word to use. Then I drew on my style lines, straightened the side seams of the skirt and made a quick muslin. With some more help from the fabulous Mel with the fitting of the muslin I quickly proceeded to cutting out the real thing.


I'm not completely convinced about the silhouette and fit of the dress. It feels a tiny bit... I'm not sure what... frumpy? when wearing it. And there are a few drag lines and wrinkles here and there that I'm not really sure how to get rid of (advice gratefully received).


However, for pretty much an attempt at self drafting I'm quite proud of myself! I do really like the neckline/armhole feature that I've added, and also the use of the bias on the upper back.


I couldn't work out how to successfully add pockets to the dress without risking ruining the silhouette, so I didn't try. Which I'm sure I'll curse when wearing it, but never mind.

Back in September in the small amount of the pre-frocktails fabric shopping trip that I popped in on, myself, Kat, Amanda, Liz and Lizzy set ourselves a little challenge/project; we spotted some lovely gingham fabric in the Alannah Hill outlet store and each bought 2m of the fabric with the challenge of seeing what we each made from it.

Kat and Lizzy have already posted their gorgeous projects (click on their names to see, they're great!), but I don't believe the other two have yet (please correct me if I'm wrong ladies).


Anyway, it took me a little while to decide what to do with my gingham. I had a few ideas, but I decided to let them ruminate (aka procrastinated) for a while and eventually committed to a plan over my Christmas/New Year break. With some moral support from Mel I settled on a design... which I will share with you soon. The bonus of my chosen design is that it didn't need the full 2m, and I managed to get this pair of shorts out of the fabric too!

Particularly after seeing Kat's shorts I was really happy that I could get shorts too; it allowed me to get the shorts without straight copying her as I've come up with my own idea too.


The shorts are essentially identical to my Birthday Shorts, except that because the gingham doesn't have any stretch in it they are functionally a bit smaller. Because of this, despite the shorts being finished in early January, I am only able to share them now as I have solved the problem of the shorts being too small by becoming smaller myself. Now they fit perfectly!


The only changes I made to the shorts are adding slash pockets in the front and making the back patch pockets a little bit deeper so that my phone fits in better.