The Flowy Sleeved Dress

Once again, I found myself in the fabric section of Hobby Lobby when I went in for something else entirely. I stumbled across this remnant of printed cotton knit fabric, it appealed to me so I grabbed it and walked on to what I'd actually gone in to get that day.

When I grabbed this fabric I already knew exactly what I wanted to make out of it. Remember my shirt with half-circle sleeves I made a few weeks back? Well, my sister really wanted something with sleeves like that, preferably a dress. I only had a yard of this fabric. Surely, I could squeak a simple shift dress with half-circle sleeves out of that?  The dress though would hold so much more visual interest if I added a contrasting fabric. So I went on a search through my sewing room. I wanted a blue to match the larger motifs on the fabric. I dug looked through my fabric stash to see what I could find. I found a knit in the perfect shade of blue, but it was a slippery poly-knit, not what I wanted for this project. Next, I went through my refashion bin, nothing there. Finally, I headed to my closet. I found this shirt.

I'd had it since my freshman year of high school and haven't worn it in a couple years. It was nearly worn out. The shirt was the right color, and I wouldn't miss it if I cut it up. Perfect!

I used a simple shift dress pattern in my sister's size as my template, adjusting where necessary to make what I had in mind. The remaining fabric I cut into two half-circles for the sleeves. I had to piece together one sleeve due to the limited fabric amount. From the shirt, I cut a yoke for the dress and some other fun details.

The dress came together really easily and my sister loves it!

The flowy sleeves are her favorite part of the dress.

The deep v and the bow on the back of the dress are probably my favorite details.

I also really like the little ruffle on one side of the band at the bottom of the dress. I made the band by piecing together what was left of the shirt after I cut out the yoke. In order to get enough fabric for the band I had to cut into the ruffled neck band or make a narrower skirt band. I decided the little ruffle would be a fun, unexpected, detail on the side of the dress.

The dress came out a little on the large side, but that's ok. It's not way too big, so it just that means my sister can wear this dress for a little longer than she otherwise would. Hopefully it remains a favorite!

This dress came out a success, hopefully I can do just as well on the Easter dresses I need to make next week. Now back to sewing and baby goats I go!