Wednesday 4 April 2018

Casual , Comfy , Cozy Dresses.




 


First thing I do when  I get home from work is get straight out of my good clothes . It protects them from me but also gets me out of the being at work mental  zone  . During winter my favourite down time uniform is a pair of trackies .You just can not beat trackies for comfort and feeling relaxed and dagginess ! My last pair had bagged out so badly at the bum and knees that even Saggy Baggy Elephant would have felt sorry for them so they are in the gardening clothes pile now. With no trackies  left this was an opportunity to significantly up my casual clothes style. 


Pattern combo for the purple stripe /spot dress. 

Both fabric pieces came from Clear It bought at the end of last year . I used Butterick 6883 for the blue and grey argyle knit dress . This is a really fantastic pattern that also comes with pants , a sleeveless vest and the dress shortened into a top. The pants are definitely a contender for upmarket trackies too ! I love the front angled seams with pockets , the curved neckline with an interesting collar and dropped sleeves . Even the upper back has a curved inset piece. This makes for a very comfy dress with lots of design possibilities. I sewed this dress during a very busy period . Sometimes I only had time to sew up one seam at a time but over a couple of weeks I managed to complete it so it is a relatively easy pattern as well. The only changes I made were to lengthen the dress and I added piping to the neckline . The piping is woven  so the neckline is a little bit tighter but luckily I can still get it over my head easily enough. 


 The pockets bag out a little bit  but the pros of having them greatly outweigh that factor and after all these are just trackie replacements so I am not fussed by that. 


The purpley striped and dotty knit dress was made using a collaboration between a Kwik Sew 2900 top , Vogue 2101 dress  and a pocket from an old Burda WOF mag. Although I have made KS 2900 many times it has been a few years now but it was always my go to pattern for T shirts . I like the shaping of the vogue dress being slightly pegged  and knee length. I did double the width of the KS collar piece so it was a rollover collar rather than just a turtle neck. This was also a very easy make although attempting stripe matching required a bit more care. 

  
I used some of the dark purple stripe knit to bind the pocket edges and make it just a bit more interesting. 


I am pretty happy with my new dresses ( now just have to wait for the cool weather ) . Such a step up my usual casual outfits . I won`t be embarrassed answering the door now to unexpected visitors ! 

9 comments:

  1. Love the dresses! The colours in the striped one are just so good for you. I really love the pocket edging. The Butterick pattern looks a good one.. Great winter wear... of course I'm sitting here in short sleeves with the front door open and the rain pouring and cooling it down from 30 deg on the weekend.

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  2. Two lovely dresses. I especially like the stripey dotty one's pockets.

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  3. Excellent. These stylish dresses look like they might be secret pyjamas. Which is the very best thing IMO

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  4. Both dresses are super cute and a great idea for casual wear. Especially love the pink striped one. Had to laugh, as I do the same with both my clothes, and tennis shoes.... hand-me-down to gardening wear. :)

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  5. I tend to go for the trackies in winter too, with long johns worn underneath for good measure - and ugg boots. Comfy but definitely not ideal for answering the front door. Your dresses are much more stylish.

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  6. Lovely makes.
    Lee

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  7. Both beautiful dresses - nice and easy to wear, nice and smart. Some nice tights and you are dressed for the day. I am sure quite a few of us have a full box of "gardening" clothes.

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  8. I took a tee shirt pattern and extended it for nightshirts. Now I will have to try this idea for around the house. Beautiful dresses!

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  9. Thankyou everyone. I should have mentioned the fabrics are very soft too making them even nicer to wear.

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