Self drafted Cotton Dresses

Happy Friday friends, I made two cotton dresses and I'm happy with how they turned out. I sewed the short sleeve dress last month and wore it a lot (from dinner out to the supermarket shopping) 😊 

And the long-sleeve dress was finished yesterday and I look forward to wearing it in cooler weather with leggings and boots.

I loved the simple design of these dresses, they suit my daily life without feeling too much dressing up, also I can wear them with sandals, shoes or sneakers. 

For the short sleeve dress, I used printed cotton voile fabric in orange, purple, brown and off-white from the local shop. The fabric was light and perfect to wear in summer. The rest of notions (threads, fusible interfacing and invisible zipper) were from my stash.

The pattern is based on my basic dress sloper, I moved the front vertical dart and made a-line design, also did the same for the back dart. I lowered the necklines and made new round necklines (front and back) with the facings. And then, I cut the length of the sleeve into short sleeve. 

The process was easy and according to the usual manner, so I don't need to explain all the detail here. 

I fused the fusible band in the wrong side of the fabric before I sew the zipper. 

After I sewed the neck facing to the neckline, I clipped the curve area, flipped the facing inside and finished with hand sewing around it.

The sleeve hem was 1.5 cm and the hemline was 1 cm because the dress was a little flare and I wanted to avoid bulk. Both hems were sewed with blind hem stitch.

For the long sleeve dress, I used cotton poplin fabric that I bought recently in the local shop. And the rest of the notions (threads, fusible interfacing, invisible zipper and elastic for the sleeve) were from my stash.

The pattern was the same as the short sleeve dress, I added a bishop sleeve finished with elastic. The pictures below show my process of making the bishop sleeve. I slashed the sleeve pattern in three and reconnected again with the space of 4 cm (enough volume for me but you can add more). And then cut my fabric, sewed the sleeve to the armhole and body. Inserted the elastic inside the sleeve hem. 

I posted a video on my Instagram in case you are interested link here.

The neck facing finished with hand sewing and the result outside was invisible. I love this method, so nice and clean. 

And the last picture is the proper look of the bishop sleeve/puff sleeves with elastic, I love it because it is comfy and easy for me to pull in and out.

This dress is my entry to the #magamsewalong November challenge on Instagram with the theme "Nighttime November" hosted by Sue, Helene and Suzy. 

I was planning to sew two garments, this long sleeve dress to wear in case I'm going out for dinner and pajamas to wear at home (of course 😃). But I think I don't have enough time to sew the pajamas this month, so I'll continue sewing them until next month.

That's it for today friends, take care and happy sewing. See you next week in another project, a wool pinafore dress 💗