The Reversable Wrap Dress That Put Up A Fight

 Hello Readers. I thought I could make a fun reversible wrap dress. I chose the wrong fabric and I messed it big time, and I managed to save it at the end. I will tell you all about it. 

 

 This fabric was so cute, I knew I wanted a dress out of it. As usual I barely had enough and I messed up along the way.

I used the 1356 pattern from Simplicity. I thought it would be so great because it was reversible and it was a wrap style. It's like 2 dresses in 1 and it would always fit.

I cut out the pattern pieces. There was a front, a back and a belt piece. So far so good. 

I didn't realize that I was making a mistake here. The only way to fit the 2 dress pieces on the fabric was to turn them different ways. This means that the design will be upside down on one of these pieces. I can't believe I did not see this.

You can see the front images are upside down because of how I cut out the pieces. You can also see  mistake #2. I also cut out the same pieces from a pale pink lining fabric. I put them together and it was so bulky, I didn't think it looked good. The sewing themed fabric was heavier than it should have been for this pattern. I decided to take the lining out and try to keep the sewing fabric by itself. It was thicker and it wrapped around itself enough that I didn't think it would be see through.

 

I did a lot of cutting to get the lining out. I also may have said some bad words. 

 

The lining was out. I had the basic dress shape intact but I had to finish all the edges and stitch them down. 

 

I couldn't fix the upside down images so I decided to turn the dress around and wear it backwards. It looked better that way. 

 

This is how it looked from the back. The tie looks nice and the upside down fabric is mostly covered by the way it wraps around.

 

It turned out OK. I like it a lot. The fabric is so fun. And nothing is perfect. I can ignore the mistakes. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

 ***Year End Update- This dress was a tough project but I love it. I wore it with layers in cooler weather. I also found a use for the lining in a later project. 

*2025 Me-Made-May update. I still love this dress. 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon Dress

 A while back I made a dress using the Simplicity 1356 pattern. It was supposed to be reversible but I didn't use the lining I made. So... I have had the lining sitting in my sewing room. I decided to use the lining and make a second dress with the same pattern. I really liked this wrap style dress so I was happy to make a second dress. And that lining was already cut out, I had to use it.

Same pattern, second dress.

Here is my lining. It looks white here but it was a light blush color. It was perfect for lining the fabric I wanted to use.

I found this lemon sheet when I was out thrifting. I love these lemons. And it was only $1.99!

I cut all the elastic from the edges so I could flatten out the fabric.

I cut out the pieces from the lemon fabric. This was going to be a super fast project because the lining was already finished.

I stitched the 2 front pieces together and the 2 back pieces together. Then I connected the shoulders. I had trouble with the shoulders, the straps seemed too short. I don't know what I did wrong but I worked it out. I made the head hole larger and it was fine.

I made matching waist ties to tie the dress closed in front. 

I liked how it turned out. but it was a little boxy.

I added elastic to the back of the dress at the waist. It really helped to improve the shape.

I love this kind of wrap dress because it is always adjustable and it always fits comfortably. I like the lemons so much. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- I said I would never make this dress again because it was difficult to get the lining smoothly attached. But I didn't want to waste the lining I made previously. It was easier to make this time but this is my last time using this pattern. I love these lemons and it worked out well enough this time.

Using a Vintage Pattern

 Hello Readers. I made this wrap dress using a vintage pattern from 1952. It was a wrap dress and I loved that it would be adjustable and always fit. I found some bargain fabric on sale and got to work. 

Before and after.

I found this fabric half price and bought all that was there. It had cute shoes and handbags all over. It was so inexpensive I thought it was a great choice to try this new pattern. If I really messed up, at least I wouldn't have spend that much.

I ironed and cut out my paper pattern pieces.

 

I ironed and cut out my fabric pieces.

 

It was at this point I realized that I did not have enough fabric. Or at least I did not have as much fabric as the pattern called for. I cut out the front and back pieces. I was supposed to cut out 3 skirt pieces but I was only able to cut out 2. I thought I could still make the dress and have a less full skirt. That is what I hoped anyway.

 

I held pieces up to me and tried them on as I sewed to see if things looked right. This front piece was going to get ties and it would wrap around behind my back. It seemed to go together well. I was glad I put this together with less skirt fabric than it said. The skirt was very full.

All the edges of this dress were finished with bias tape. I chose black. 

This was a fast and easy way to finish the dress. 

My dress was almost finished. I waited until the end to decide on length. I cut off about 6 inches and hemmed it. I also added 2 buttons at the waist to close the dress.

Here is an inside look at the inside of the dress. The front of the dress ties behind my back. The back wraps around the front of me and connects to stay closed.

I was able to add pockets to the front of the dress. They are hidden by the over skirt. It all kind of blends in because of the wild print.

 

  The buttons have a tied elastic to keep them closed instead of button holes. I did this because the to ends did not meet to make a traditional button and button hole. I could have used a tie in the front made of bias tape but I didn't want a tie closure in the front.

This dress was so fun. I was really glad I made it. I don't think it needed a third skirt panel. It is really full with only 2. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself.

***Year End Update- This dress was so fun to make and it is adjustable at the waist so it always fits well. I added tights and a long sleeve shirt under it this winter.