The 'Firsts' Dress Post

First place, first dress in a new home, first complete dress made in Adelaide, first dress for the first day of being back at school, first dress in a very long time where I have chosen to make a whole toile to begin with!

FIRST FRIEND TO VISIT ME IN ADELAIDE AND TAKE SOME PHOTOS FOR ME (YAY)=^_^=

I made this dress by drafting a simple shift dress by combining my blouse block, and my skirt block. I moved the darts into the side seam and created a curved french dart which I liked from another pattern I had.

I made a full mock up of it and you can see in the pictures below that I made a fair few changes!

I took in a bit of excess through the center front, shaped the darts a bit more, took some excess out above the bust, and pivitted some of the neckline out as well.

I don't really know if you can tell from the picture below...but the sleeve around my (huge) bicep was too tight

I used the below alteration to make it fit :)

Unfortunately, I did not re fit the sleeve....and when I went to make my first version of this dress, it was too tight. This dress also needed lining as well....as I think it is some wool/acetate blend? I got it from the fabric shop when it was on sale, and it is really gorgeous and fits perfectly, but the first time I wore it the restricted arms annoyed me so much that I cut them up....and now I have to un-pick them all together and put tiny half sleeves on!

I wanted to have this as a shift block essentially, so I really made an effort to get this one right. 

The night before my first day at he Adelaide College of the Arts doing my Costume I  decided it meant i needed to make a new dress. I bought fabric a couple days earlier...but didn't anticipate making it so soon.

I matched the stripes from the dart down, and did my best to match them at the sleeves also. 

I decided to do a hand picked zipper also.....whiiiiiich I feel is maybe not suited to side seems so much as it is back seams. I have done one on a dress which just needs to be lined, and it's at the CB and it looks damn awesome. Thoughts?

To me this is old news now, but it's still the first 100% completed garment I have made since moving to Adelaide, and now the first dress post I've done since moving here!

When I finally get around to finishing those sleeves, ill do another post! The dresses both look so different, I can already tell I like this pattern ^_^

My friend Ben who visited me from Canberra came and stayed for a few days not too long ago, he is a lovely Canberra photographer, and we had some few adventures where he took some lovely photos, and I will share a post which features those very shortly! 

So thank you to Ben for these lovely dress pictures : )