Simplicity S8910 My Beautiful Butterfly Tea Length Dress

This is Simplicity S8910.

This is a pattern I bought last year from Hobby Lobby during one of their mega pattern sales.  Yayyyyy!  Anywho, the pattern has 4 dress variations with 4 sleeve/bodice variations.  The bodice slopes in the back and the skirt is pleated in the front and the back.  It has 13 pattern pieces.  I cut the bodice of View A in a size 16.  I’ll explain the skirt later.

I used a cotton fabric I bought from Joann’s initially to make something for the house.  Pillowcases.  But when my anniversary was coming around, I wanted to make something to wear on that day.  I decided to use the butterfly fabric to make myself a dress for my anniversary.  HOWEVER, after making the bodice to my anniversary dress, [it was a different pattern], the bodice was too tight, and I did not have enough fabric to make another bodice, or even try to modify the one I made to fit.  The pattern I was using was a pattern I have had for over 6 years and it was during a time when I really was just learning how to sew.   At the time, I didn’t know how to take my measurements and then choose the size to cut. I just cut a size 14 because that is what size I wore at the time.  I know now, that is not how it works when you are sewing.  In most cases, you will wear a bigger size in a sewing pattern than ready-to-wear clothes.  I ended up throwing out the bodice, and making the skirt an elastic waist skirt, and calling it a day, even though I really was not happy with it.  I just really liked the fabric and did not want to squash the entire project, nor did I want to waste the fabric.  So, for my anniversary, I ended up wearing something I already had.  A black and white jumpsuit.

 

Okay, back to the dress.  So I decided to make this dress. Simplicity S8910.  I am going to do a linen series where I will make all linen pieces, and I wanted to make this dress one of the pieces.  However, I wanted to try it out first.  So, I used some denim fabric from some jeans I made last year, and then decided to deconstruct the skirt from the anniversary gone awry, and use that as the skirt part of this dress.  It was a great collaboration, and this is the product of that affair.  Needless to say, I am very pleased.  I made some bias tape for the neckline and the sleeves from the butterfly fabric.  The skirt of Simplicity S8910 is a pleated front and back.  Because I was using the skirt cut from the failed anniversary dress, I decided to just gather the skirt instead of pleating it.

This is what I like about this dress.  It’s very comfortable.  Very feminine.  Can be dressed up or down, and even though my skirt pattern was different from this pattern, it came together rather nicely.  I really like the fitted bodice.  I got several compliments when I wore it, and my husband and sister loved it.  I also really like this fabric.  It’s just a basic cotton fabric, but the print is what does it for me.

Now let’s talk about what I did not like about the dress.  The only thing I don’t like about the dress, and I am hoping this is exclusively through the pictures, is that in a lot of the pictures, I looked pregnant. Yes, I said pregnant!  In some of pictures, I looked like I was 9 months.  This is not necessarily a good look if you are not actually pregnant.  But I digress, because I still like the dress.  Luckily, I do not believe I look pregnant when I am wearing it.  And as a final note, I think it would make a very good maternity dress.  So if you, or someone you love is pregnant, this would be a great gift and they can still wear it afterwards.

Thank you for allowing me to share this dress and the experience of putting it together with you.  Leave a comment and please “Like” if you like.  Also, if you have not subscribed yet, please consider doing so.  You can subscribe below.  Until next time, make life better, one project at a time, for yourself and someone else.

 

You can start making small steps towards your big goal.