Have you ever heard of the term ‘Bodycon Dress’? I hadn’t until I asked “Jamie” to look around and determine what garments she would like to have in her custom clothing wardrobe. A Bodycon dress was on her list. I had to look it up to see what she had in mind. Here is an example of a bodycon dress:

Body Conforming. In other words, something that I would NEVER wear in public. Which is okay because Jamie definitely WILL be able to carry this off in public.

She hasn’t changed much since this picture, and despite wearing a wedding dress, you can tell that she would ROCK a bodycon dress. *sighs with envy*

I went out looking for a decent pattern and came across one by McCalls.

I think this will make an excellent jumping-off point. Next I needed to find some nice fabric. I came across a great deal on some Ponte Knit fabric in a cranberry color.

It’s washed-out in this picture. In real life it’s much closer to a burgundy color.

Last weekend I finally had the chance to sit down and get to work on it. Now, the reason that I embarked on this project was because Jamie has a difficult time finding clothes that properly fit her figure. As I was looking at her measurements and the pattern’s measurements I started to get a headache. This is going to take some work!

First I traced off the pattern onto sturdier paper.

I will have to do some pattern grading (merging from one size into another at different parts of the pattern), so I figured this would be the easiest way. If something doesn’t work out I can always throw my traced-off pieces away and start all over again.

This picture is fuzzy, but you can see how I traced the two sizes that I need to grade between. I decided to trace them out on the full pattern just in case I needed to grade elsewhere. Currently I believe I only have to grade from one size to another between the waist and the hips.

Looking at the pattern, and based upon my experience trying to match Addie’s measurements to Jamie’s, I knew that I was probably going to have to add some length in the torso. Using the bust and waist points on the pattern, then measuring Addie’s bust and waist points, I decided I would have to add two inches.

Here you can see where I cut the pattern apart and added the extra length. Obviously, I did this to both pattern pieces.

It doesn’t look like they line up very well because the back has a higher neck than the front. This will be a sleeveless dress with a lower neckline. Jamie doesn’t like anything choking her neck. Then I placed the pattern pieces together so that I can grade both sides in the exact same way.

And that is where it has sat all week. I haven’t had time to get back to it. Luckily the cats have left it alone (although, when I just had the tissue pieces laying on the cardboard mat Bob decided that would be the BEST place to play with a piece of string). I was watching a few classes on Bluprint (used to be known as Craftsy) when I came across another idea that I’m going to try out before I actually do any cutting to this pattern. I just have to find the time to do it!

I want to get the pattern sized correctly so that I will have fewer adjustments to make once I actually cut the dress out of the fabric. This is actually the hardest part of making the dress. Once I am past this point it should be a fairly easy sew *knocks on every piece of wood within reach*. I hope to get back to it this weekend. Wish me luck!