Originally Posted by Rachelcb80
For awhile now I've been really, really wanting to make myself a vintage 50's style dress. I found a couple patterns on eBay for a good price and bought them. The only thing I've made besides quilts is an apron. That was easy enough but it was just two panels and some pockets. Oh, I made all our Christmas stockings last year too. :) I'm assuming it's much more difficult to make clothing, but it can't be impossible, can it? Everything I've done thus far is self taught so I know how to learn, I'm just wondering if I'm totally jumping in over my head.
Anyone have any advice or direction for me, other than to tell me I ought to save myself the trouble and just go buy a dress. :)
It's not so much the sewing techniques as , it is the fitting. Particularly with a 50's style dress that is more closely fitted, if your body varies AT ALL from pattern, you'll have adjustments to make that will either work out, or you'll end up with a "you made that dress, didn't you" look. So if you really want to do this, my suggestion would be to try the pattern from muslin before you use good fabric, to make sure you can get it adjusted the way you want. There are a lot of good fitting books out there. Nancy Zeiman has several. I made clothes for years and switched to quilting becasue of fitting issues as I got older and everything started to drop!!!