DIY Midi Dresses

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Hi there, Happy Friday 🌸🌸 Today's update is about two new dresses that I made to wear on special outings. The sleeveless orange midi dress was made in October and the long-sleeved dress was made at the beginning of this month.  Both patterns were self-drafted, and the dresses had ruffles at the bottom tier. And to complete the look, I added a removable bow and pinned it to the neckline.  For the sleeveless midi dress, I used a linen blend fabric a souvenir from my trip to Bangkok and the fabric was enjoyable to sew. As usual, the sewing process started with pinning and sewing the darts and then attached the facings to the front and back pieces right sides together. I pinned it around and then sewed it, but I left a few centimeters open to sew the shoulder lines. I love this method, the finished facing looks clean and neat. I closed the opening area with hand sewing. I gathered the bottom tiers and then sewed them to...

Tiered Midi Dress

I managed to organize myself after a few months of lacking creativity, thanks to Me-Made-May which made me realize that I should make a proper plan and get back to making stuff and updating the blog more often. 
At the beginning of this month, I finished the mixed prints sleeveless top for #magammayhem #magamsewalong challenge on Instagram and I was happy with the result, here is the link in case you want to see the full detail.
The next day, I started to work with the tiered midi dress using the floral drapey rayon blend fabric that I bought recently in the local fabric shop. I found my inspiration from Pinterest, made a flat sketch, and drafted the pattern myself.
This tiered midi dress is my entry to June's challenge on Instagram #magamjovialjune hosted by @suestoney @sewing_in_spain and @sarahcsewing . To match the theme, I'm making a dress from colorful fabric (floral) that also brings joy. Thank you for hosting the lovely challenge ladies 💗

I'm glad to start doing the flat sketch again and I hope I will continue doing it.

The dress has an empire waist style, midi length with a two-tier skirt. Comfy, loose, and swishy, perfect for summer.
It has eight pattern pieces, v-neck front side with side dart (cut on the fold), back with the dart (cut 2x), front first-tier skirt (cut on the fold), back first-tier skirt (cut 2x), second-tier skirt (cut the length I need by gathering the left-over fabric together, sleeve (cut 2x), front neck-facing (cut on the fold) and back neck-facing (cut 2x) both the facings fused with the fusible interfacing.
An invisible zipper was inserted in the center back, finishing the sleeve hem was 1.5 cm and the hemline at 0.50 cm.

The sewing progress started in the usual manner, I stitched the darts and then joined the front and back pieces together.

Followed by stitching the sleeves to the bodices.

Gathered the first-tier skirt front and back.

And then pinned and stitched the first-tier skirt to the bodices.

After that, I stitched the invisible zipper at the center back. Followed with hand-stitch the finishing facing using catch-stitch method.
And then, I gathered the second-tier skirt. Pinned and stitched to the first-tier skirt. The last works were blind stitching the sleeve hem and hemline. I forgot to take the pictures.

My bad luck or lack of attention, I didn't notice that the fabric at the front neckline got a few holes (ripped). I was mad, I should double-check the fabric before cutting but it happened (lesson learned). I'm not going to re-work the dress, so I decided to mend the hole with hand-sewing. 
I fused the inner side with fusible interfacing and then hand-stitch the holes using two different colors of threads with the hope to match the prints.


I was happy with the result, still visible to me but I'm sure nobody will notice from far (at least😊).
I made a video of the mending, here is the link in case you want to see the full detail.

Here are a few more photos of the dress, I'm looking forward to wearing it somewhere for the holiday or anytime I feel like to dress-up 😊 
I love this dress, so comfy, loose, and swishy 💗


Until next...
Happy sewing ✂😍

Comments

  1. Hi Hana, it’s ages since I commented on a blog but I have to say you made a top job of this dress. It’s very pretty, doesn’t swamp you ( as some of these generic tiered dresses could do) and I really like the neckline. It’s a pity about the hole, but it is entirely invisible- great mending! All the best. Trish S

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    Replies
    1. Hi Trish, hope all is well with you. Thank you for so much the comment.

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