A Woman Obsessed

Alright, I'll admit it.  I am a woman obsessed.  I can't stop sewing dresses!  Which is kind of ridiculous given that's it's still 50 degrees outside (on a warm day) and we get maybe 60 days of dress-wearing weather around here in the summer time.  Despite that, I am like a one-woman dress-making sweatshop and here's my latest creation.

I must say, I feel very 1950's housewife-ish in this dress.  I'm not sure that's really my style, but for the moment I'm going to embrace it.

The dress is made from Simplicity 2444 and for the most part it came together pretty easily.  I ended up not interfacing the stand collar and the facings because I was worried about stretching them around the neck and now the facings crumple up a bit but I think they can be beaten back into submission with a good pressing.

As for the style of the dress, I was a bit disappointed when I first put it all together.  The seam at the natural waist is not a particularly good look on me (which is probably why I avoided it with all of the other patterns that I've ever made).

Note to self: Remember to iron the front seam
before taking pictures.

Add a belt, though, and this dress looks much, much, much better (have I mentioned how much better this dress looks with a belt?).

And the highlight of the pattern for me?  Definitely the pockets.  Have I ever told you how much I love dresses with pockets?  Considering that I am never without a tube of chapstick and a tissue due to my permanently runny nose, pockets should probably come standard on all items of clothing that I own.

Wheeeee!  I heart pockets!

And a special thanks to my sewing buddy, O, who sorted and played with buttons for an amazingly long time, allowing me to work on this dress.  O, you're the best!

Fabric: Heath by Alexander Henry - gray, purchased at Esther's Fabrics
Pattern: Simplicity 2444
Size: Cut out a size 6 on top and graded to a size 8 towards the bottom of the bodice.  Cut out a size 8 on the skirt.

Alternations: Used an invisible zipper and sewed a smaller seam allowance at the shoulders to have the waist fit where my natural waist is (although the waist still hits a bit high).

*Sadly, this is not the dress that I cut a hole in.  That dress remains in a prolonged time-out.