The Dress!

Before attending my Monday night sewing class this week, I thought I had a pretty normal body type, however relative clothing sizes are these days. I usually wear size 10 tops and am somewhere between size 10 and 12 when it comes to pants. I am always wishing that more shops made size 11 pants, because so often the 10 is just a bit small and the 12 is starting to fall off. This is one reason I like sewing. I can make clothes that fit my body size, and that also suit me. Because of this disparity in clothing sizes I often tend to shy away from shopping. It is also because I rarely find anything I really like.

Last year, for instance, Daniel and I attended a 'formal' wedding. I wanted a dress that was not too short, did not show too much skin, had a unique style and nice fabric. I dragged Daniel around every dress shop I could think of in Hobart and eventually found a dress that I liked that filled most of the above criteria. And $170 later I had a dress. At the time I purchased the dress I thought I was going to be able to wear it a few times. However, thus far I have only worn it twice. Such a waste!

Due to this unproductive experience, I decided that for my sister's wedding, which is in June, I would make a dress. I had a few reasons for this. Firstly, I did not want to go into every dress shop in Hobart again and come out disappointed. Secondly, if I made my own dress it would be made to my size, with my choice of material, plus it would be A LOT cheaper. The third reason, came from a desire to wear a dress that no-one else would have.

I chose a dress that is a little more formal than I usually wear but I really like the style and the shape of the dress (Simplicity 3673, blue one on the right). I was also, to my surprise, able to find some lovely material (very much like that in the picture). At $27 a metre the material was a little more expensive than usual, but add the zip, the lining and the cotton, I think the whole dress is costing me about $70-$80, which I think is quite reasonable.



So on Monday night I set out to make this dress. After many measurements and referrals to the 'final measurements' chart, I was surprised and maybe a little worried when I was told that I need to make the bottom part of the dress out of size 14 pattern pieces. I did not realise I had such huge hips. However, it is not really my hips, it is my thighs. When measuring around the hip area, it is important to take the largest measure, which for me happens to be around my bottom and thighs. So size 14 dress here I come! I am still excited about making the dress, and at least I can take solace in knowing that I will be able to walk in it :).