The Dress, Take 1

My history with sewing began with clothing.  My mother taught me how to sew when I was in the fourth grade; I would compete in clothing competitions in 4-H, in which I was scored on construction and fit.  We would make garments for ourselves and would model them for the competition.  Mom and I would go to Lafayette to shop for patterns and fabric.  Mom was quite the seamstress (she made her own wedding dress!) and she taught me well the proper means of construction.  Everything was always lined and flawlessly finished - we never took a shortcut.  The last garment I made was a formal gown, navy blue raw silk with a beaded bodice.  I grew out of the dress before I could wear it to prom but Sister Sarah wore it to a highschool dance...

Fast forward about 10 years.  I've been making my own patterns and constructing bags, and I've been thinking about clothing, wanting to make a dress of my own design.  So here is my concept:

And here is the finished product:

 

I bought this linen on sale at the beginning of the summer... wanting to try my hand at clothing design.  I get impatient during the construction phase of these projects so I also wanted to keep the design rather simple.  So, no zippers or buttons, just elastic at the empire waste and at the back.  I used rough measurements and the shape of pattern pieces from different dresses in my closet.

I would call this a partial success... there are a few alterations I want to make so that the bodice and back fit better... but I'm haven't gotten around to it yet.  Mostly because there is no way to make the alterations cleanly with out taking the whole thing apart.  The bodice is fully lined.  I haven't worn it out yet.... maybe once I make the alterations.  That's why I'm calling this 'Take 1', the first attempt, we'll see if I can't make a few corrections for a better fit.