Clover dress and some musings on style

Evening friends, the sun is setting here on a productive sewing day. I have made a very speedy dress and taught someone to sew a pair of pyjamas, a pretty happening day I think you would agree. The dress is the one you see below, made from the Clover pattern by papercut patterns. When I saw this dress pop up on the old blogs I thought it was a dress for thin people, i.e pretty shapeless and not flattering to the larger of arses! However I am trying to change things up style wise around here. It turns out living in the country it isnt alway practical to ear fit and flare, vintage style, cutesy dresses. Who knew?! 

 

That is actually not the only reason though. I have been feeling a little trapped by my style recently. I dont know if any of the rest of you feel this way sometimes. When you sew you can create any identity for yourself through your clothes and when I started sewing I created a pretty defined look and stuck sort of religiously to that. Eventually that kind of got me feeling a bit enslaved to that look. I couldnt just throw on a pair of tracksuit bottoms or rtw jeans as I felt I was not being true to my style. Wearing fitted dresses is not always the most comfortable outfit and to be frank I am tired of only being "able" to wear them. I have been hankering after loose clothing, comfy boots, things I can throw on and feel like im in pyjamas all day. And so we have the clover dress.

 

 I was pretty apprehensive about this dress. I truly thought it would be a sack and cut into this lovely blue rayon with some serious hesitation. But hey you know what, what is the fun in sewing clothes if we dont experiment and mix it up sometimes? Readers, Its not a sack! I am massively surprised by how flattering this dress actually is. There is some clever drafting going on here to give this beauty a nice shape. 

 I've also been pretty heavily inspired by my obsession with Nashville at the moment and the lovely Scarlett O'Connor (if you havent seen it you are seriously missing out- it might even have surpassed my Vampire Diaries obsession!). And thus have been trying to channel a more laid back, country, loose style.

 My admiration of my new boots is clear!

I sewed this dress in literally 3 hours including tracing the pattern and deciding on size etc. That is bloody speedy and would have been quicker if I hadnt spent about an hour fucking about with the hem. It had some wonky wings at the side seams, mainly from belting the dress I think.

I took in a little under the arms and shortened the sleeves a lot. But other than that and some extra length on the hem I didnt change anything. All in all this is pretty much a win I think. Comfy and flattering. My first foray into papercut has been a success- yay!