I haven’t made myself a dress in quite some time. I always realize what I want to wear (and what I don’t have) when I need it. I’m trying to change that. I’m sure many of you have noticed as I have that many sewists are taking to creating their own collections. I’m currently participating in the Seamwork Magazine “Design Your Wardrobe” course which has really made me think about this more and more. This has been four weeks of information and inspiration and is designed specifically for sewers. So, I consider this dress the first piece in my mini-collection.

I used stretch cotton sateen for this (I’ve had this material for about 2 years now). I’m not sure if the pattern is still available because I’ve had that for a while too.

In fact, when I was looking for a pattern to use, I realized that I had bought this one twice! I made View F for may dress (without the ribbon tie).

Although I had more than enough fabric, I did have an issue getting the skirt cut out correctly and I basically had to make some changes so it would fit the fabric.

But I’m really happy with the way it came out. I’m currently making a black knit jacket to go with the dress as part of my “collection”.

If you have this pattern I would certainly recommend making it. There are a lot of options including many for warmer weather. I hope to have my other pieces ready to share with you soon. I think that thinking in terms of “collection” sewing will solve my problem of having several pieces, but not necessarily having things that go together, at least not initially. My goal is to have a more cohesive look with pieces that I can mix and match.