I have a confession | Go-Go Kim

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Friday, April 8, 2011

I have a confession



I admit it openly, as much as I love girly dresses and toe cleavage high heels, I am just not someone that wears them. I am not comfortable in them so I have them in my closet and look at them but they do not ever make it off the hanger and onto my body to leave the house. I look up to those women that can successfully pull it off and bow down to their fashion greatness.

My friend Sara can pull off these great looks, she has the beauty, body and the seamstress prowess that it takes to make anything look amazing! So when she started the Jamie Dress Sew Along and posted pics of herself in the dress it was like looking in a fashion magazine and thinking...I can look like that too! Never mind that I am 20 years her senior and 20 (cough) pounds heavier, the dress was so cool looking on Sara I had to have one too! And so I started it!

I have never made anything for me to wear. This was to be my first attempt at sewing a garment and after a few frantic messages to Sara on pattern placement I was really ready to try.

 Cutting it out was easy enough.



Then I was able to get the bodice together and was pretty impressed with myself.





I was feeling very accomplished and proud of myself until it came to the skirt! There was so much fabric so I had to stop and make more frantic messages to Sara asking if it would ruin the dress to downsize the amount of fabric in the skirt. She told me to make sure to try it on first. After that I hacked at the skirt fabric and was much more pleased with the result. Until I put the dress on. It was then I realized WHY I cannot wear this style of dress comfortably. It makes me look matronly  :/ I am very realistic about what does and does not look good on me and this DID NOT! I loved the bodice. It is fitted and lovely very good for my body type. I wanted to use what I had worked so hard for and not have it just sit in the closet.

In comes my friend Andy!!!!!!!She brought muffins and a new perspective!!!!!!


and a really cute Goodwill find to show and tell :o) Isn't this too cute!



Back to the dress, Andy is the same body type as I am on a much smaller scale, I am 5-7 and she is maybe 5-3? She saw my concerns and asked a simple and brilliant question...

"Can you make it into a shirt?"

YES!!!!! I can keep what I love about the dress and make it into a tunic type shirt!!!!! 

THANK YOU ANDY!!!!!

And this is what I came up with :o)

( please excuse the horrible pictures, it is raining and I had to take these myself)


I love the bodice I used the med but I think I may try the small:?


full top shot that has not been hemmed since I am still deciding how long to make it.


Without the Kermit the Frog sweater



I will be making another one and cutting more fullness out of the "skirt" portion ( it is still too poofy for my full bottom half) and giving it a more pleated look but overall I love it and cannot wait for summer!!!!


I am linking this to Quilt Story Fabric Tuesday
I would put a cute button here but I am just not that advanced :/

Kim :o)
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20 comments

Lina Thomlinson said...

What a fantastic idea to turn it into a tunic! I'm all excited about the sew along too and just got started on the bodice last night but I do have to wonder how often I'll actually wear the dress. I don't have a good track record with wearing any of the pretty dresses I buy and stick in my closet, hoping to one day find the right occasion to wear them. I love love love what you did with the pattern and think that I'll have to try something similar myself. And there's no way you've got 20 years or 20 pounds on Sara. Nice try. You're a skinny minnie too!

Go-Go Kim said...

Thank you! I need to tweek the gathers and maybe rip some more fabric out to get the look that is in my head onto the top. I cannot wait to see yours!!!!!! I'll give you the $20 for the compliments later ;o)

Becky (My Fabric Obsession) said...

Love it! What did you do, just chop off the bottom of the dress? I felt the same way about mine. I'm definitely pear shaped and the skirt is accentuating that. I'm thinking about scrapping it, but this is adorable and something I would wear more than a dress.

Go-Go Kim said...

Becky, I measured about 7 inches down from the bottom of the zipper, popped it up on my cutting board and cut straight across. I am still working on where I want it hemmed but that is different for everyone anyway.The bodice is so PERFECT for a pear shaped girl! Accentuate the positive :o) Hope this helps.

Lisa (StuffMummyMakes) said...

Oh that is sooo pretty - love the fabric you chose! Gorgeous! :0) x

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

I'm so happy that you love it. It makes me really happy! Haha, I was reading the first comment and your reply, that's funny. :-)

What you did, I think that is my favorite part of sewing (clothing in particular). You can take the things you like from the pattern, change the things you don't like, and make the perfect thing for YOU.

I'm excited to see you making the top, actually, because it opens up a lot of possibilities for this sewing pattern that I had not considered before. And I saw Jennifer Paganelli commented on your Flickr!! Awesome!

What fabric are you going to use for your next one?!

CityHouseStudio said...

This is too cute!
I absolutely love it.
I might have to make a second one into a tunic like this too!
Michelle

Bree said...

This is a great idea & I love your version! I'm just getting started on my "cheap" version of the dress (technically I suppose it's a muslin, but with regular fabric in case it turns out alright), but I'm going to have to keep this is mind for another option.

Katie said...

LOVE that! Such a cute take on the pattern :)

SzycieUli / UlaSewing said...

you look lovely!

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

Woohoo! I noticed you're doing the linky party today!!

the gathering girls said...

Wow...thats a great tunic! I love it with the green sweater!!

Kristie said...

Cute! And I love it paired with that sweater!

Emily said...

wow! Awesome shirt!!! :) I'm glad you were able to make it work out since I saw that first photo of it up there I was sure it'd look just this amazing! It makes me wish I had the patience to sew clothes!

Go-Go Kim said...

Again, thank you everyone so much! I am working on a second one to *hopefully* show what I did differently. I will be posting it in the next few days, my sewing mojo has hit a temporary snag...I blame the weather!

Quiltstory said...

That is sooooo cute as a shirt!! I would be far more likely to wear it that way too! Great work. Thanks for linking to fabric Tuesday :)

Jennifer said...

Meg you started a revolution and we couldn't be more thrilled. Thanks for making our pattern so versatile! xoxox Jennifer

Mary said...

Super cute! This looks great on you. Great save!

VickiT said...

Ok I just HAVE to comment. I'm new here after seeing your blog mentioned on Sew Sweetness' blog and have been searching for something she called the "rain drop effect' quilting which I still haven't found. I think mostly why I haven't is because I've been reading your entire blog so far. UGH. I am NEVER going to get things done tonight that I was supposed to be doing now.

Anyway ~ I HAD to comment for two reasons: One - that is an adorable shirt/tunic you made. GREAT JOB! It's awesome. Second ~ YOU are so lucky I am not next door because I would have to come smack you. YOU? Can't pull off those gorgeous dresses and heels etc.? 20 lbs more than a friend? WHAT? WHERE are you hiding that 20 lbs? I think 'someone' is being way too hard on herself and needs to get the Mommy brain set aside and the single chick mentality back and get those clothes out and take hubby out for the night. ;)

Ok, I'll shut up now before you ban me forever. LOL Really I think you would look awesome in those outfits you claim you cannot wear...........going off to hide now.......

fotohok said...

It's a great top, good job! I think that particular skirt design is a bit hard to pull off as it has sewn down fullness at the waist that is released at the hips. There is then not the same amount of fullness at the bottom of the dress which it can create an oval effect. Or have the fullness in the hips and thighs. If the fullness is either slimmed out over the hips or there is more fullness at the bottom of the skirt (50's style) you get that hour glass shape. But hey, who cares, when what you made ended up beautiful!

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