Bright Geometric Pullover Dress

I’ve made this pullover dress before—it was an easy dress to make and had wanted to make another one for quite some time. I finally got around to it. Since the pattern is so simple, I thought a more interesting fabric would be nice to use. For the bodice, I decided on using a bright geometric fabric that I got at a thrift store. For me, a little pattern goes a long way, so I picked a plain black crepe fabric I had in my fabric stash for the skirt portion to balance things out.

I didn’t run into any problems sewing the dress. But I’ll admit that I was too lazy to fix the seams where the pattern doesn’t meet itself properly. It was my intention to do it right, but I wasn’t paying too much attention when I was pinning the fabric together and sewing it. I realized my mistake after the fact, and truthfully didn’t care that much. I mean, how often are people looking at your side seams?

The one improvement I made was that I added pockets this time. The pattern doesn’t have pockets, so I took a pocket pattern piece from another dress and just added it in. It didn’t take too much extra time to do and was totally worth it.

Overall, I’m satisfied with the dress. I like the pop of color and interest the pattern brings—which is pretty vibrant in comparison to most of the clothes I wear. I also like the dress when I use a sash that I made some time ago (and is the same black crepe fabric as the skirt).

Navy Pullover Dress

I wanted to sew something easy with very little effort on my part, so I chose this simple dress pattern from 1981. It’s just about the easiest dress I can make: a pullover dress with an elastic waistband.

Learning from my many previous mistakes, I measured the pattern first to see if there were any glaring size issues that might screw me over later. And I’m glad I did, because the top portion was going to be too long on me. My torso isn’t so long, so I always have to shorten dress patterns, and I did so before cutting out my material (this time).

For this dress, I chose a navy with white polyester fabric that I thought would drape well. Sewing this dress was a very smooth process. Although it was a new pattern for me, I didn’t run into any problems (as it was somewhat similar to the Comfy Gray Dress I made recently). Everything was pretty clear cut. I think if I really tried, I could have done finished this dress in a weekend, but instead I doled it out over two weekends.

I’m satisfied with the finished dress. It’s super simple and comfortable, and it’s my beloved navy color. The one negative thing is this pattern didn’t have pockets and I didn’t add them in, and I have to say: I miss pockets! If I make this dress again I think I’m going to add pockets because I love pockets.

To add a bit of interest to this basic dress, I used my thrifted navy and white belt that I bought recently. Because the belt is quite long, I tied it in a way that allows it to be fitted on my waist.

First, I used the belt normally, putting the end through the first and second loop.

The end of the belt is quite long, so I threaded it through the first loop again, and then tucked it underneath the belt.

Then I twisted the belt around so that the metal pieces are on my back. Done.

Comfy Gray Dress

I felt like sewing something that wasn’t going to be too hard, so I chose this easy pattern from the 1980s. It’s a pullover dress with an elastic waistband, and because of its looser fit, it’s more forgiving of my sewing abilities.

There weren’t too many pieces to this dress, but it still took me some time to sew and alter. [Shakes head in disapproval.] I keep forgetting to measure the sewing pieces first so see how large things are before I cut and sew it together. [Sigh.] I thought I was pretty close to the sizing on the pattern envelope, but maybe I was wrong or maybe I just like things to be more fitted than they’re intended to be.

I was swimming in this dress. I couldn’t believe that the waistline was sitting on my hips. I had to shorten the waistline on the top by about 2.5 inches and bring the shoulders in about an inch on each side. So through belated trial and error, I fixed the fit and sewed the dress.

I also had to refresh my brain on a few things since it’d been a while since I’d last done it. Like I did a blind hem on the skirt, which is a much cleaner finish than I can do by hand, but it took some time and practice to do. Or putting in buttonholes, which isn’t hard (with my buttonhole foot), but I still had to recall how to do it.

This dress was fairly straightforward to make. The one thing I’d never done was creating two buttonholes for a single button. I thought this was a pretty interesting solution on the cuff; it makes it more fitted and allows the button to be seen, but I didn’t have to create a more complicated cuff that’s generally found on a traditional button-down shirt.

Although it wasn’t part of the pattern, I decided to sew a sash as well because I think it’s a nice option to have (if I don’t feel like wearing a belt). Overall I’m pretty satisfied with this dress. It probably took about a month to sew (since it was mostly just sewed for a few hours on weekends), and it didn’t cost much [maybe around $5 for the fabric (from an estate sale), thread, elastic and buttons]. It’s a very comfortable dress and it has pockets (which is always a plus in my book).

Singed Gray Dress

Not long ago I picked up this sewing pattern and I thought I could use some lightweight gray fabric I had in my fabric stash to make this dress. It was a pretty simple dress to make; a pullover with an elastic waist and buttons down the front (and pockets).

I didn’t run into any snags while sewing this dress; it was fairly straightforward. I think it turned out fine. However, I wouldn’t ever wear this dress without some sort of belt (it looks a bit saggy and sad); it desperately needs a belt to help cinch everything in.

So I was fairly satisfied when I finished this dress. And then I took a closer look at it and saw slight burned marks on the front of the dress. At some point in time, the iron must have been too hot and scorched the fabric a toasty brown. From a distance it’s not very noticeable, but as you get closer you might think it’s a light coffee stain. Super disappointing. I’m not sure when I singed the fabric, but it kind of sucks since I’m done sewing this dress (and spent all that time and energy making something that’s already flawed). [Grrrr.]