Like it's 1954

I've never really been into what's 'trending' or 'in fashion.' Growing up I pretty much wore whatever everyone else was wearing because I wanted to fit in. Typical right? But now that I'm an adult I've literally thrown all that out of the window and I wear what makes me happy and comfortable. And nothing is more comfortable than a dress! Preferably a knee-length dress with a full skirt. Now that I think about it... practically half of my wardrobe consists of dresses with similar silhouettes like this one! But hey, I know what I like and I'll stick to what I know looks good on me.

(to see the makings of this dress CLICK HERE!)

FAMILY PORTRAIT DRESS

I stayed up alllll night just to make this last minute dress for my family portraits.
I'm so pleased with how it turned out! It's my new favorite!
Mint green with heart-shaped buttons and a full eyelet skirt.
What else can a girl ask for?

The makings of a green dress

I bought this fabric and didn't have a CLUE what to do with it. After looking at it for a million years I decided on a box pleat skirt. I was going to do a copy-cat of a dress I saw on Zooey Deschanel but I ended up making to many changes to it that it turned into more of a Dear Creatures type dress. So much for that lol! I kind of eyeballed the strips of white and then used a ruler to even it out. The collar was a last minute decision but I'm glad I included it. Collars are so great!

Got Milk?

Okay this dress was seriously so much fun to make! Mainly because I got to play with this really fun Oreo cookie print fabric! I used the new(ish) Lisette pattern from Simplicity (which you can find HERE). All in all I'd say the pattern as pretty darn simple. The only thing that tripped me up was getting the keyhole facing/collar insertion right. I didn't like the look of the slim skirt in the actual pattern so I switched out the skirt for a simple a-line without pockets. The keyhole in front originally came out as barely a slit so I had to widen it just a bit for it to be visible without being too revealing. The edging on the shoulder was completely improvised just for fun ^___^  Jumbo rick-rack had become one of my favorite things to accent garments. It's so versatile and easy to work with! And can we just talk about the collar for a second? I was so happy that it went all the way around without any weird seams halfway through or worse- only made to be on the front. I mean, right? That's the worst. Either have a collar all the way around the neck or not at all. 

Now, according to the instructions the collar is supposed to have a button loop closure at the center front but I saw a few other girls who had done it and I hated the way it looked. Their collars didn't seem to lay correctly with it in the way. So I just sewed it shut, it's not like I'll need to open it for any reason. Usually I would line the bodice if nothing else but this I decided to leave completely unlined. I do have facings on the neck and armholes but that's about it. The fabric is a little on the thin side of the cotton spectrum but I'm so used to wearing a slip underneath my dresses that it doesn't bother me at all. And if I happen to change my mind later... Well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it!

60's Scalloped Shift

I really love shift dresses. Lately I've been drooling over old fashion ads and random pictures from the 60s. I picked up this little pattern last November and made the dress the same day. But for whatever reason (I don't know what I did wrong???) the neckline was gaping by like 3 1/2 inches. I had no idea how to fix it! I couldn't re-cut the fabric or start over because I had used a thrifted bedsheet. After a couple days and a few headaches I put it in my project graveyard and resolved to come back to it another time. Well it's been long enough (over 6 months!) and I decided to make a sort of pleat in the center. I folded the center outward about an inch and sewed across the top stitching. At that point it looked a little lacking. I loved the print and the scalloped hem but it still needed something. After taking a nap because I was still frustrated (I always say napping is like the 'reset' button for my brain), I then added blue and white buttons across the neckline. They were perfect! Complimented the dress perfectly and I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Fruity ModCloth Inspired Dress

I realize now after taking pictures for this post that I've gotten a lot darker these last few months haha! Anywaaaaay, ModCloth is the bomb. Their prices however are not. I saw this dress first on the lovely Kate from Scathingly Brilliant in an outfit post of hers and I went bananas! (ba doom tshhhh) I have a million fit 'n flare dresses and I'm really starting to like shorter a-lines and shift dresses so I decided to go with that instead. The original dress has much smaller more spaced out fruit... but I'm pretty over the top when it comes to prints so naturally I went and found the biggest most obnoxious fruit print I could find!

ModCloth/Zooey Deschanel Copycat Dress

I don't know whyyyyy my arm looks so ridiculously long in that one picture! But I promise I'm perfectly proportioned (well, maybe not perfectly). ANYWAY, I love my girl Zooey and as I re-watched an old episode of New Girl I drooled over this blue dress. I went with purple instead of blue because I realized I had quite a few blue dresses already. Plus the color scheme of the Russian dolls didn't look so great with blue. Zooey's dress is above the knee but I prefer to have longer skirts just because. Although I may change it because the more I look at it the more naked and awkward the long skirt looks. I dunno, maybe. Also added: puff sleeves! Simply because I love puff sleeves. There's no belt/sash- honestly I was too lazy to make one. But now I'm thinking maybe the length wouldn't look so weird if it had a purple belt. The dress (as with most dresses worn on New Girl) is from ModCloth. It's their Doll in All dress (no longer available!).
Theirs - $89
Mine ~ $25

Inspired by an apron // Simplicity 1353

New spring pattern! Yay! It's funny because before I actually buy any patterns I always search for reviews so I can see how it looks on a REAL person. But so far I haven't been able to find ANY with this pattern! Oh well, I took a chance and it payed off! It fits like a glove and the only modification I made was bringing up the neckline about an inch and a half. I'm sure no one would really need to do that unless you're flat-chested like me haha! It sat waaaay to low on my chest. What stuck out at weird for me is that the pattern calls for interfacing on the bodice, I've never needed to do that unless there was a button placket or something. But you only need to use lightweight fusible interfacing, so it doesn't really complicate anything.

As you can see I've left mine strapless. Normally I would stay away from strapless things because I feel naked without some sort of strap (even spaghetti straps!). I like the self-made binding with matching straps from the pattern but I decided to go another route. I have this ruffle trim that I'm experimenting with. Not sure how I want to make it into straps but when I do I'll be sure to post an update!

Now for the inspiration:
If you follow me on Pinterest you might have seen my Aprons board (Yes I love aprons so much I dedicated a whole board to them). And as I was browsing through it I came across this little gem...

Nice right? It's from a little etsy shop Boojiboo specializing in adorable aprons and I seriously can't get enough. It just so happened that we had a similar fabric (on clearance holla!) at my fabric store! So naturally I wanted to make it into a full dress. I didn't go with polka dots because I actually hate them, BUT you gotta admit that I got pretty darn close with this dress!

Ruffled Diaper Cover // Simplicity 1600

This was a fun little thing to make! I will say however, that making those ruffles were really time consuming. Cutting out each strip, ironing, gathering, lining them up, blah blah blah. And then after all that they somehow ended up really short! Ugh! So the next time I make these I'll be sure to cut the strips an inch or so wider. Since this pattern is for babies the sizing goes by weight and height. I cut out the medium size according to the chart and it ended up being HUGE on my niece. My first go 'round with this pattern was a massive failure. I mean it was kind of cute, but not what I wanted it to be. I'm certain that the next time will be 10x's better because I'll know for sure what not to do. I'm not really feelin that romper or that bonnet-style hat but everybody loved ruffled diaper covers. So I'm keeping this pattern in rotation!