I'm all for supporting independent pattern makers--but frankly, there just aren't that many out there! So what's a sewer to do when she needs to make two fast dresses for her and her mom to attend a semi-impromptu wedding in a month's time?

Why yes, I am one of those pattern makers I myself speak of...but unfortunately, I don't have dressmaking skillz nor the time to experiment.... Even a search on Etsy returns only commercial patterns for adult clothing. Outside of that, I can only think of the beautiful Colette Patterns--but there's still a huge niche right there open for more filling! *hint hint*

And so, I resort to the grimey pattern books at my local Jo-Ann and picked out a couple of seemingly easy dress patterns. I found a very pretty fuschia gradient satin fabric off the sale bin for $5/yd (!!!) as well. The fabric is very pretty to look at, though later I found that it's hellish to sew with its not-so-superior quality.

Anyway, here's what it turned out like.

Would you like some cheese with that?

Not totally shabby yea? I picked the strapless top of style "C", but the bubble skirt bottom of style "A". Extracting the parts of the instructions I needed wasn't so hard. The pattern itself is somewhat straightforward. The biggest hassle with the design itself is doing all the ruffles. But guess what?! If you have a sewing machine RUFFLE & PLEAT FOOT, then your job is significantly easier. The ruffle foot is one of the best craft purchases I have ever made! More about that some other time.

The pattern has a lot of steps. There's about three layers of fabric for the top part--two layers of lining and one outer layer. Pain in the butt sort of. The zipper is where I had the greatest difficulty. I am not afraid of zipper sewing, but the satiny fabric is daunting to use. It has a tendency to catch on the machine needle or the teeth and pull the threads in the fabric, which makes the fabric look awful. It's like when you pull your stockings. I was getting pulls all over the place as I was sewing the zipper. So frustrating. This fabric is also not good if you want to remove basting stitches or mistakes. The "ink" on the front of the fabric scrapes off. Those little holes from the stitches will show if you look closely. Conclusion: Don't buy cheapo shiny fabric that is one side printed, unless you're pretty confident. It's also crazy staticky. Fortunately I had some anti-static lining fabric to use for the inside.

One last gripe: use a stiffer lining fabric. The one I chose is rather thin and slippery, meaning it doesn't stay on the top of my body so well. The lining tends to slip up because it is lighter than the outer fabric. I will probably have to add some tiny stitches to stitch all the layers together on the bust part. Some bra tape should also help keep things where they should be. Also, the size turned out way bigger and needed altering, so I probably should've gone one size down--don't trust the size chart to the T.

One bonus: Instead of a plain bubble skirt bottom, I used some tiny safety pins to pin up parts of the fabric. Now it's one of those fancy shmancy bubbly skirt things. The pins are totally removable and repositionable, great for my indecisiveness!

Overall, I would recommend this pattern if you have fair sewing skills and a lot of patience. It's a pretty time consuming one, and requires both machine and hand sewing. But it would save you a lot of money vs buying an evening dress someplace. Total expenditure: $10 pattern + $15 fabric + $5 misc = $30-ish. Sometimes patterns are on sale for like 3 bucks even.

So that's dress #1, for myself. I've still got my mom's one to go. It's a different, more 'conservative' pattern. More to come.

I'm very happy to announce that my newest pattern is now out, the—

FLEURETTE Bubble & Summer Skirt Sewing Pattern

Yippee! This pattern took a while because there were a lot of details to take care of with regard to the whole package. E and I took lots and LOTS of photos of the different skirts at aaalllll different places. I really wanted to capture the free flowing, graceful aspects of the skirt. Plus, I had to work through the whole range of sizes the pattern supports (X-Small to Large). So I had some math to do!

Anyway, the pattern offers both a bubble skirt style, where the bottom of the skirt curves inward; and, a summer skirt with a traditional finish. The instructions are easy to follow and suitable for beginning to intermediate sewers.

I wanted to do this pattern because most commercial skirt patterns I use take way, way too much fabric because of the way the skirt curves when laid flat. I love skirts, but I don't want to spend 3 yards per skirt! This economical pattern makes good use of the little fabric you need, but still with graceful flow and airiness. I also wanted to make a bubble skirt that has a professional seamless lining, where most bubble skirt patterns only offer an elastic bottom which don't seem comfortable at all.

The first time I took the bubble skirt out for a spin, I got three separate compliments about the skirt within the same store! How rare is that in apathetic LA? Imagine what you'd get!

Please pardon my face all over the photos. I don't have a model yet... To check out the pattern details, please click through to my shop: