Planets Dress

My latest dress could pass as another space-themed Mrs. Frizzle dress, like my Halloween costume from last year.

The fabric is my favorite. All the planets are there (including Pluto!) and the randomness of the pattern lends itself wonderfully to the circle skirt. Also, it GLOWS IN THE DARK. Seriously. It’s awesome. The fabric is from JoAnn’s, and my store still has some if you want to make something equally awesome with it.

And check out how wonderfully the contrast sleeve/collar (also, pockets) fabric goes with the main fabric. I went to the store looking for some solid black, but found this with polka dots in just the same scale/randomness as the stars on the main fabric. Plus, I love polka dots. Win-win.

This was my first attempt at pattern matching on the back of the bodice, and I think I killed it. Not only is it a 4-way pattern (not just stripes where you only have to line it up in one direction), but there are  words on there. That you can read clearly across the zipper. If you can’t tell, I’m pretty pleased with myself.

This was my last dress in a contest called Sew Dolly Clackett. Roisin, who blogs at Dolly Clackett and makes all of the most fantastic dresses, is getting married in about a month, and to celebrate a bunch of people made lots of awesome dresses emulating her style. Check out her ‘closet’ here. I’ve been hoarding fabric for dresses for quite a while, but this contest gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get started making them. In just over a month, I finished 7 dresses! I’ve actually finished another since then, too. I love them all <3. I’ll probably slow down on the dress making a bit, but I have plenty of plans for making more! Check out the flickr pool with over 200 dresses (I counted 228!) submitted .

Blog posts: 1/2/3/4/5/6/7

Pattern: I used Simplicity 1755. I like this pattern a lot – I think its cute, I like the sleeve detail at the cuffs, and there are no set in sleeves! I also really like the way the collar is put on. While I changed out the skirt pattern for a circle skirt, I really want to try out the skirt pattern. There are a ton of pleats, and they’re inserted so they cover up side and pocket seams. Even though my measurements indicated a size 12, I cut a size 10 and it fit well. I’ll probably make it again.

Pattern Changes: I skipped the lining and cut the bodice on the fold to avoid an extra seam. For the slit at the neck, I just used a bit of interfaced facing like this. I used hook and eye clasps instead of buttons at the front and back of the collar, and skipped buttons altogether on the sleeves because I liked how they stayed on their own. On the bodice, I just changed the arm scythes (up under the arm, in at the shoulders) and added an inch and a half to the length (I made a muslin to test those out). I skipped the skirt pattern entirely because I didn’t want my planets to get cut up in the pleats, and just cut a circle skirt as big as I could while fitting on the rest of the fabric I had left (if you’re curious, its a 61% circle skirt).