Going into this project, I was very naive to think that making a lined dress was going to be easy. The simplicity of the look fooled me into thinking that it would be easy to put together. While I was in the process of making the half scale sheath dress, we were asked to make sketches for our actual lined dress. Because of the challenges I faced with the half scale dress, I chose the easiest design I had sketched.
I preferred the princess line dress because of the way it looked as a finished project. But I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to make a pattern or sew it together. Thankfully, a classmate and I helped each other while making our patterns since we both wanted to make a princess dress and were about the same size. Once that was done we cut out our patterns in muslin and sewed it all together. Initially it was wrong. However, after seeing the muslin fit my body the way I wanted, I was excited and motivated to start with the denim I had bought to use for my final dress. I had said that initially it was wrong because at first glance, my teacher was under the impression that I was using a zipper to close my dress. I had actually wanted to use buttons. With a week left to do my dress it was really crunch time. After that was fixed and my muslin was correct I moved onto the denim. Putting together my denim pieces was the easy part. It was really helpful that my pattern was fixed and I could fend for myself with a sewing machine. Figuring out how to line my dress wasn’t difficult since I already had my pattern. It was attaching the lining that left me with no sleep. I had asked an upperclassman for advice on lining and he showed me how to do a bag lining. I lacked the knowledge to realize that I was actually doing the hardest lining and I found out the hard way. Finally, all that was left to do was the button holes. I scheduled an appointment to use the button hole machine in the specialty room in the University Center only to find out that it was broken on that day. Nevertheless, I figured out how to make button holes with a home sewing machine and they looked just as good to me.
I knew I had to be time conscious and I understood the process of what I had to do with the skills and knowledge I possessed. I am overall pleased with my dress and if given the chance, I would use my pattern to make more dresses. As a last minute addition, I decided to attach a checkered pocket to add more character to my dress. There’s nothing I would change about my dress except maybe a more fitted look but that’s an adjustment I can save for later. In the end, I am very content with my final outcome.
