dress #2

Well here we are, another week. I made some good progress on my quilting this weekend so I hope to have a quilt to show soon, but in the meantime, some more clothes! I mentioned before, I made 2 dresses, and this is the less practical one, but naturally the one I am totally in love with. Unfortunately there is no way I can nurse my babe in this so it will be mostly tucked away for a while. Still, I love it.

It has a bit of a difficult story though. I made this from a creativebug.com class. I had been wanting to check out some of their offerings and I saw this class to make this peasant dress and I fell in love. I couldn't stop thinking about it and how much I loved it. So I signed up for the free trial, and while I admit I have a nice finished product, I am sure glad I didn't pay for it. It was a bit of a nightmare. The class is to learn how to take a tank blouse pattern, which they provide, and alter it into the dress, which is something I was seriously interested in learning. Things started out pretty badly though, when I printed the pattern and it was almost impossible to tape together. I am not kidding, it was the worst pattern taping experience I have had. The pages were askew and didn't line up even remotely straight, and there were absolutely no markings to tell you where the pages should overlap. I made my best guess based on the overlap of words and curves, but it was so frustrating. Not to mention I absolutely could not find a size chart in any of the class information so I had no idea which size to cut. I went with the size I normally wear; thankfully it is a really forgiving dress so it worked out. The materials for the class were a bit off too, saying that you need a zipper (which you don't for the dress, only if you are making the top it's made from) and that 2 yards of fabric is enough, which it is if you don't have a directional pattern, but otherwise you will need more as I found out the hard way, which is why my design goes sideways.

The class itself was fine. A little sparse on information and there were mentions of things that were never taught, like cutting slippery fabric which it says she will talk about and show tips for, but it doesn't happen. I actually thought I was going crazy for a while there. I did learn a few good general tips though so at least there is that. Clearly, I was so in love with this dress that I was willing to deal with all this and not quit, and what I am saying is you have to be really dedicated to work through this one, but if you are, it is so worth it. I used an Amy Butler voile that I found on sale and am completely in love with. And I am happy to report that it looks just as cute with my sandals as it does with my boots and a cardigan, so I am set for year-round wear.

In conclusion, the class was rough but the dress is awesome. I really really love it and I think a date night may be in order so I can wear it soon :)