one dress, four ways

Firstly, thank you all so much for the lovely comments regarding the Burda WoF skirt suit I posted in the last entry. I'm thrilled that so many of you left comments.

I went away last weekend (being a holiday weekend) so no sewing got done and I haven't quite finished the dress I'm working on this week, but here's one from the vault.

Since I have so many patterns, I don’t tend to make the same pattern over and over again. I fully understand the concept of TNT (tried and true) patterns, and I am constantly amazed by the quality and quantity of sewers who use TNT patterns, such as the highly creative Carolyn over at diaryofasewingfanatic. But most of the time when I sew I like to try something new and challenging when I sew, and usually I’m not sewing to make some basic pieces to fill a hole in my wardrobe, rather I just want something new. Oh, and I am easily distracted by new and pretty patterns.....

That said, sometimes a pattern comes along that I like enough to warrant it’s remake. This now OOP Butterick 3076, released in 2001, is such a simple and sweet dress that was so easy to make, I made it four times with rather different results.

First, up I made it in a soft cotton in a pale yellow with a floral design. I made this over four years ago, and I still drag it out each summer and wear it at least once or twice. This version is rather plain, and it may encounter a run in with some trims soon to jazz it up. Here is a location shot (not my front yard for a change) – taken at a park not far from my house, worn with the only white shoes I own (and in fact this dress is the only thing I wear them with). The dress isn't as pale as it seems in the photo below, it's just that it was a very sunny day!

Secondly, I made it in a polished cotton in a very Julia Roberts a la Pretty Woman brown polka dot print. I even wore it to the horse races with a hat recently! Made from the exact same pattern, but the different fabric gives it a totally different look. Actually this is the same fabric I made the red polka dot jacket from that I posted a while back (only this dress didn't stay a UFO like the jacket did).


Thirdly, I made this into a formal dress to wear to a black tie affair for my husband’s work late last year. I used a black cotton lace over a cream soft polyester charmeuse style fabric, brightened up with a red grosgrain ribbon tied at the waist to match my red shoes (of course!). It turned out to be a very heavy dress, with the two layers of fabric and a voluminous skirt, but it looked so different from all the other dresses worn that night so I was very happy with it.

And the fourth version of this dress was actually a UFO that I started in 2005, meaning to wear to a friend’s wedding which was held the week after mine. But with the chaos of finishing my own wedding dress and bridesmaid’s dresses, plus a severe change in weather from really hot at my wedding to rather cold a week later I didn’t finish it and wore something else. But when my brother in law married last December on the beach in lovely Noosa I thought this would be ideal so I had reason to finish it. It’s made from a pale pink cotton, with stripes and a cherry blossom print. I used thin black grosgrain ribbon as trim to highlight the waist and cross over back.

I even bought a funky pink and black hat to wear with it since it was going to be outside and I get sun burnt in a few milliseconds, but it turned out to be a rather windy day so I gave it a miss. When we were walking to the beach for the ceremony, we passed a fancy dress shop on the main street and one of the sales assistants gave me a smile and a nod, so I felt pretty special in it!

A note to brides who plan to have beach weddings, your guests (or maybe just me) will hate to wear heels on sand and have their hair ruined by the wind! And just for good measure, here's a picture of the husband and I, because he hates his photo on this blog....

Kristy Idle 2008