Brown Sparkly Dress

This was my first make of 2012!  Annnnnd, it's April and I finished this in January.  Oops...oh well.

Annnnyways.  So, I got this fabric and wanted to quickly make this up.  I loved this fabric.  It's a knit fabric, it's a nice color brown, but the best part of all is that it's sparkly.


I decided to make Vogue 1224.  It's a Tracy Reese design.  Which, I don't have too much of an opinion on Tracy Reese or her designs.  Sorry!  I just don't keep up with things like that.  The reason why I was drawn to it was because it was a knit dress pattern!  I love knit dresses!  Seeing the reviews on Pattern Review and the cover of the pattern, I realized that I should probably lengthen the bodice and the skirt.

Front

So, I started out by lengthening the bodice by three and half inches to the bodice length.  I also added a half inch to the bodice width and the to the top of the skirt-to make it gather a little more.  I also added two inches to the length.  So, basically I added 5 and half inches to the length of the dress.  However, it was STILL too short for my liking.  I didn't even have enough length to hem it!  I also added a half inch to the bottom of the skirt to make it flare out more and give it an A-line shape.

So, other than the short length, the elastic in the waist just was NOT flattering for me.  I HAD to wear that belt to make it wearable!  I do, however like the neckline.  I think that the gathering around the neckline combined with the dolmann sleeves looked really flattering on me.

After I took this picture (in January!) I wore the dress maybe once or twice more.  Yeah, this dress in going into the donate pile.

back-sooooo flattering, right? <insert dramatic eyeroll

>

Cost:
Pattern: $3.99
fabric: 2 yards at $2 a yard-$4 (it's from my favorite fabric store in Oakland.  They sell run offs at $2 a yard!)
notions: already had on hand
Total: $8

What I learned:
So, I learned that I like full skirts with a fitted waist.  I didn't like the bulk around the waist because of the elastic.  I like the skirt to flare out and this skirt (even after my alterations) just kind of hangs straight, which is fine, I just don't like it.

I also learned that I like the heavy neck gathering and the dolmann sleeves.

Would I make it again?
I would make it in a maxi length or, on the other extreme, I would take out the skirt part and add more length to the bodice length to make it a shirt/tunic.