A Little Help?
My most recent sewing project was to make myself a dress for a wedding we are going to in a month…
Ta…da
Front
Back
Side
Inverted Pleat Detail
Neckline and Bustline Detail
There are so MANY things that I love about this dress, my favorite being that it FITS ME REALLY REALLY WELL! I love that I am super comfortable with the modestly level(nice high necline, great length, fitted but not tight, at all). I love that it is feminine without being obnoxious.
My favorite feature is the inverted kick pleats at both side and the back. I love the look of fitted skirt, but really don’t appreciate slits for the modesty factor…. viola… the inverted kick pleat! It allows for some fitted-ness while not allow a peek at my upper legs(which, seriously, are only very slightly on this side of scary…).
I tend to be a little pear shaped, so the wider neckline and the more fitted bottom(without being tight) give some balance to my figure.
I love the gathered detail on the bust and neckline.
The main fabric is a mid-weight linen, and the neckline and inset waist detail are velvet. So it is a funky mix of fabrics for a June wedding, but that’s me, just a little funky.
I started out with this pattern:
But with the fabric I choose, the bottom was a little too voluminous, so I used this pattern for the bottom:
(the purple bottom)
But it was still too full, so I just totally redid it free-hand…
All in all, I am very very pleased with how it turned out…all I have to do is finish the hem.
Here is where the help comes in….
ACCESORIES!!!
SHOES!
BAG!
JEWELRY!
HELP!
I have little to NO budget, so I might wear shoes that I already have… I don’t love them, they are a little high and kind of, you know, scary… but they are, also, you know, FREE!
The wedding is outdoors, so I am thinking that I want to dress the dress down a little with the accessories. I will probably wear my hair curly and loosely thrown up(that doesn’t sound all that pretty huh?)
Any thoughts? Any links so I can see some pictures? Anyone that I know IRL have anything that I can borrow(JK… kind of…)?
wow – that is so cool! what size shoe are you? i have some very fun strappy silver ones….and i could probably hook you up with some accessories…..did you make it yet? it is way cool!
Yup, it is made… that is me wearing it standing in front of our door…
Sweet! on the hook-up, I am a 9ish shoe…
very cool – i am SO impressed! my shoes are banana republic 9’s. metallic strappy.
I meant to respond to this earlier – I LOVE the dress!! I am so impressed that you *made* that!!
I am the world’s least fashionable person, but I do have a dress very similar to that and I was told by someone who is way more fashionable than me
to forgo a necklace, wear drop earrings (I don’t wear big earrings, so I wore some pearl drop earrings) and a bracelet. And the strappy sandals sound great – I’d say either black, gold, or maybe silver…
Your dress-making skills are so impressive!!
That’s a lovely dress. And, if you’re pear-shaped, then what am I, a giant squash? You look awesome in it!
OH. MY. GOSH. Girl, you are crazy talented! I LOVE this dress! Can you make me one for my reunion??? Kidding! (Okay, not really… seriously, this is better than anything I’ll find at the store…)
So impressed. And so unable to help in the accessories department. I like, don’t own anything in that department, not needing to accessorize my t-shirt and jeans ensemble that I wear every single day. Sigh.
[...] fashion sense. I wish I had the eye for fashion and the sewing abilities of Jena. Did you see the dress she made? Barring a miracle wherein I turn into Jena and make my own awesome dress, I need some help from [...]
My rss feeds for you are never working. It’s making me crazy.
Anyway that dress is soooo awesome. I’ve never tried to sew something for ME. I think I’d want to lose another 50 lbs before even humoring that idea. But the idea of having something that FITS right is inspirational.
I am so bad at accessorizing, I don’t even own jewelry!!!! Or shoes!
whoa Jena, that is very very cool! I am thoroughly impressed!! And so not able to help in the accessories department…