Dresses of Summer- Evening Wear #2

This dress that I am posting is the first dress I made for my brother's wedding in Hawaii. I made it from Simplicity pattern 2693, view B. I had added an extra layer at the bottom because it was a little too short for a more conservative family. Then I ended up trying it on multiple times to get the whole look, and I decided it was a little too formal for what I thought the wedding would be. That's how I ended up making the turquoise floral dress.

*Please forgive the wrinkles, I was on a roll taking pictures and didn't want to heat up my room*

 It's a tiered strapless dress, with a gathered waistband and double bow.

 The double bow is the same one I made for the turquoise dress, just a little larger.

I didn't even mean to make the dress the same color to look exactly like the dress on the pattern. The yellow satin was extra from a dress I made for school. I might make one of the other versions for another wedding, just not use a satin to make it seem so formal.

~JV

Dresses of Summer- Evening Wear

I'm back from camping and had a few days to rest so now I'm back to post more beautiful dresses.

The next couple posts I will be showing some dresses I designed and made specially for a trip I took to Hawaii with my family in December of 2009. My brother was married there in a beautiful ceremony. His wife grew up there and they thought it was the perfect place to bring both families together in celebration. The nine day trip was full of great people, beautiful sites, and created a lifetime of wonderful memories.

This first dress I designed and made to wear to their ceremony. The floral silk is a fabric I bought at Jo Ann's and thought it was perfect for a Hawaiian wedding. It's a simple design that is a fitted turquoise strapless top with pleats and a floral A-line skirt with a empire waist that has a white crepe back satin for a band.

I like to add little details into dresses and this was a technique I used in a few projects at school. I thought it would bring a bit more to a simple dress design. 

The double bow in the back is for a pop of surprise when I would turn around.

I loved this touch.

I had actually made a dress to wear to the wedding before I designed this one, then ended up not wanting to wear the other one so I came up with something on my own and loved it. I absolutly love this dress and just looking at it makes me think of how wonderful my trip to Hawaii was.

P.S. This is Hanauma Bay where we went snorkling and layed out in the sun.

The picture doesn't do it justice.

~JV

Dresses of Summer- Beach Wear

This weekend I am going camping with friends and family so I wanted to post a dress that I know I'll be wearing.

This dress is a pink knit that I bought last year and had actually started making then. The idea was a lot different then what I ended up making. It was originally going to have a full top, gathered all around. I just couldn't figure out what I really wanted so I set it aside. A couple weeks ago, as a rummaged through my fabric searching for something to inspire me, I came across this hardly even started creation. Cutting, shaping, adding elastic here and there, and this is what I came up with.

 I added gathered strips of the knit to the front for a summer flare.

I'm actually thinking of adding more for a fuller look.

The back has elastic shirring, which involves adding elastic thread to the bobbin (which goes on the wrong side of the fabric). It adds a good amount of stretch so I could make it a little smaller then my size and still have it fit comfortably. It's also pretty quick to do so this dresses didn't take long at all to make.

I've worn this a couple times this summer, I love it because it's a cute summer color and very comfortable. I've got that elastic shirring down pat now, so I can make a lot more dresses, in a short amount of time.

~JV

Dresses of Summer- Ensemble

Hope everyone enjoyed their holiday!  I did (maybe that's why I missed yesterdays post).

Well because I missed yesterday I wanted to post an ensemble consisting of  a skirt and top. It does look like a dress and  a lot of people thought that. 

I wore this to the grand opening of Unique Wedding and Events' shop opening where I designed a wedding dress they displayed during the event, which I will post later.

I wanted to design and make a basic black fitted skirt that I can pair with a lot of different tops.  The top is made of a reversible silk fabric with black and tan on one side, and purple/blue and black on the other. The event was a black and white affair so I went with the tan side. 

The neck is a cowl technique

 The exposed metal zipper is a technique I've been wanted to use for a while.

 The back has a tie so the straps don't fall, and it also looks pretty cute.

~JV

Please forgive the wrinkles, I was on a roll with taking pictures and didn't want to iron it.

Dresses of Summer #4

Happy 4th of July!!!

Just a quick post before I go off and be patriotic at a BBQ.

Now I know that these are not dresses but they go with the theme of today :)

This was a project in school where you had to create 3 or more articles of clothing. The concept I went with was inspired by my brother. He's a fighter pilot in the Air Force so I put those aspects into my clothes.

First is a green military jacket with 2 zipper pockets on the chest, 2 pockets at the waist, and a pocket on the right sleeve. Second is a gray tank top with a gathered bust and button closures in the middle. Finally I made some navy blue cargo shorts/capris with pockets on each leg. The tank can go with either the jacket or pants, but the pants don't really go with the jacket, but that's ok.

Enjoy the holiday and be safe!!!

~JV

Dresses of Summer #3

Although I am a fan of designing my own dresses, using patterns is usually a lot faster. Today's dress is brought to you by Simplicity pattern 2374 View C.
I'm a big hoarder of patterns and always buy as many as possible when they are on sale. Let me just tell you that patterns usually run an average of $15-20. Jo Ann's always has them at 40% off, which sounds like a good deal. No way. Get those bad boys when they are 99 cents or $1.99. That is the only time I buy them. Why wouldn't I?

Only problem is I buy them faster than I can make all of them. Who cares though? They were cheap! I'll end up making them some day.

Anyways, I made this dress about a month ago. The burgundy knit fabric I've had for a while (maybe even since I was at State) and the printed fabric was on clearance at Jo Ann's and it has a burgundy cotton under it. It has an elastic waistband and the floral decal is my own little addition.

I decided not to add the zipper and buttons that the pattern called for to keep it a little more simple since I used a bold print.

Now I just have to figure out if I should make that romper :)

Dresses of Summer

At the end of spring while I was putting my winter clothes away and hanging up my summer stuff, I realized that I had a lot of summer dresses. I was determined to wear more dresses this summer. While I have worn quite a few, I've actually made more. So I wanted to use the month of July to show the dresses I have made, from this summer and the last couple years.

I missed the first day of this month (July sprung up on me) so I am posting two dresses that I have made out of the same fabric, a floral knit from Jo Anns.

The first one was finished this past week after playing with the idea I had for about a week. I started it out as a tank dress with a flounce around the neckline, with an elastic waistband.. It didn't quite look the way I wanted so I decided to cut the back off and make a cute braided/twist strap.

This second one I actually started last year to wear for a 4th of July party. Again I was having problems with how I wanted it to turn out. I set it aside and didn't pick it back up until a couple weeks ago. I guess I had a long time to figure it out since once I picked it up, I knew exactly what to do with it. The top is a woven navy linen with a band around the waist, with white round buttons to close up the back.

I have yet to wear them, and I don't know why because I love them both. But hey the 4th is only a couple days away :)