I completed this lovely dress just in time to wear to the wedding shower of our friend. Here is the journey of the construction of this dress.
I chose Butterick 5744 pattern to make the feminine ruffled blouson dress in a lovely silk crepe and silk habotai lining material that I purchased at Mill End Store in Milwaukie, OR. I made view A of the pattern with the plain skirt with the double ruffle of view B.
teal silk crepe de chine draped on my dress form
Butterick 5744 pattern
I was going for a pretty, feminine and romantic looking dress such as these styles:
Tory Burch dress
yellow dress on Nicole Richie
Ruffle neck dress from Karen Millen
Pink blouson dress from Cynthia Rowley $330
ruffle neck tank dress
So I took my pattern to the Open Sewing session held at Mill End Store in Beaverton last Saturday and was able to get some great assistance and personal fitting attention from sewing expert Elizabeth Miles. We cut out the pattern pieces, pinned the pattern tissue pieces together and I slipped it on. Elizabeth was able to fit the pattern tissue to my body.
We decided that the pattern needed a few tweaks for the best fit. We added a bust dart and did a slight full bust adjustment, as well as added about an inch to the bottom hem of the bodice front and back.
Elizabeth was such a great help for me to fit this dress, I can’t thank her enough for her time and attention. I will be going back to that session for help on other sewing projects for sure!
So on to the cutting and sewing of my dress.
I added 2″ to the hem of the skirt using a chalk outline as I cut out the pattern. The chalk line is a little faint in this photo:
And here is the lining cutting layout:
As I sewed, I made French seams for the skirt side seams for both the dress and the lining:
Sew a narrow 1/4″ seam wrong sides together, press flat, trim and press open
press edges of seam flat
right sides together, sew seam again, enclosing the first seam
completed French seam
All in all, I am very pleased with my finished dress and was excited to wear it to the shower!
odetosew 
Fabulous! Perfect summer dress! Great job! It fits perfect!
Thank you!
So pretty! Well worth your effort!
Thank you so much! I am pleased with it too 🙂
Oh this is such a beautiful dress! I have to say, you make the most beautiful silk garments – I want to steal them all for myself!
Aw, thank you so much Carrie! I do love silk, it’s my favorite fabric to wear 🙂
Absolutely beautiful! The color, the pattern, the fit, the construction – all perfect. I hope you feel like a million dollars in this dress because you sure do look like it!
What a nice compliment! Thank you very much!
That is a beautiful dress! Lovely shade of blue too.
Thank you so much Caroline! I do love the color, just had to have the fabric!
It’s great to see you learning and practicing the fitting techniques you experienced when I was there with Pati and Marta. Your silk garments are making me rethink my choice of fabrications for my blouses and dresses.
Tissue fitting is the way to go for sure! Silk is a wonderful choice for blouses and dresses, for the right pattern and design of course. Go for it, you not be disappointed!
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