Diary of a shirt dress: Day 1

The reason I decided to write about this dress in the form of a diary is the amount of excitement around it. I've been psyching myself up to it for quite a while now. I was hoping to get it done before the summer to wear it during the summer but so many other things got in the way, especially things I promised to sew for others and that ended up on a schedule because of travel plans etc...Well, better late than never.

So today after getting back from work and putting the finishing touches to the blouse I've been working on (coming soon to the blog of course), I started thinking about this dress again. Now I'll make it! And will take it with me on vacation in 2.5 weeks time!

I know how I want it to look like, but I don't have the exact pattern, but I went through what I have (many times!) and decided that the bodice will be based on Burda Style 6/2014 #122 (above), the skirt will be a rectangle gathered at the waist, and a button closure all along the front.

I found that pattern and took out the pieces I'll be using. I already had it traced from a magazine borrowed from the local library.

Compared it to Burda Style 9/2016 #101 to get a feel for how wide the shoulders and the armholes are. They are wide. There will be adjustments made here.

Did some voodoo with my dress form (Stuck pins into it to hold the paper pattern in place) to see how much ease the pattern has as it is.

Then with trepidation, holding my breath, I dug through the stash and got the fabric out. Ahhh! It's gorgeous!

Small steps but now I'm on my way 💃🙌.