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Sunday, April 10, 2011

Kwik Sew 3611 - Mini Tunic Dress

I've been trying to expand my wardrobe options a bit by making some of my warm weather pieces work for cooler days. I have a mini dress from Velvet (purchased a few years back at Anthropologie) that I love and wear often during the summer. Last week I decided to pair it with leggings, a long cardigan and tall boots and it was a perfect casual outfit for the office. Not only was it cute, but it was so incredibly comfortable, that I decided to make a few more for my closet.

Kwik Sew 3611 was a great base pattern as it already had the right general shape and the upper bodice section was perfect.

I took measurements from the Velvet dress and added a narrow midriff band to the bodice and re-drew the skirt pieces to more closely match the inspiration dress. Instead of the skirt pieces being just plain rectangles, they are now an a-line shape with some gentle shaping at the bottom.

I was able to eke out a wearable muslin using the leftover fabric from this DVF dress I made last year. I forgot how stretchy the fabric is, though, and the midriff band stretched out a bit more than I had planned. While the dress generally fits well, for the next version I will add about a half inch to the length of the upper bodice and will decrease the width of midriff band by about an inch.

All in all though, I really like it and it's great to have another tunic-type dress that will work with leggings and boots or flats. Even though this version is a bit looser than I had hoped, I figure that won't be such a problem in the next few months as my expanding belly fills in the extra space. ;)

Yup, we're expecting a new member of the family this fall! We're very excited and are still in a bit of disbelief that it's actually happening. After a couple of shopping trips this weekend where I started looking at maternity stuff, expect a lot more posts like this. I think I'll be making a lot of my clothing for the next few months - it'll not only be less expensive, but I think I'll have a higher likelihood of actually enjoying what I'm wearing that way, too. ;)

34 comments:

  1. Another one bites the dust!

    Congrats. :)

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  2. Congratulations! I am sure you and Jim are over the moon (as you should be). Here's to a healthy baby and Mommy. Great dress!

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  3. Congratulations! I'm sure you are going to have a very stylish maternity wardrobe.

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  4. Congratulations - cute dress too :)

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  5. Oh my goodness - congratulations! I am thrilled for you both. It is such a blessing.

    Your dresses look great too.

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  6. Congratulations (lovely dress too)!!
    Wishing the three of you a very happy and healthy pregnancy :D
    After sewing bigger than usual for yourself for a few weeks, it is a real treat to make little things for baby too.

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  7. OMG!! Congrats!! Such great news and another little baby to sew for.

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  8. Cute dress and congratulations - that's wonderful news!!

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  9. YAY!!!!!! A new baby, how exciting. Congratulations, I'm so happy for you.

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  10. Firstly, your new dress looks fab - I love the colours of that beautiful fabric and the style looks lovely. I love how you have adapted the pattern to get a dress that looks exactly how you want it.
    Secondly, many congratulations on your joyful news!!!

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  11. Congratulations - what happy news!
    Also- your dress is very cute :)

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  12. Congratulations! I made several knit dresses while I was pregnant and they were by far my favorite maternity (and postpartum) clothes.

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  13. Congratulations!!! My sewn maternity clothes were so far superior to anything that I bought that I totally lived in them. Have fun!!

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  14. Congrats! What exciting news, and I hope everything goes smoothly for you. Cute dress, too :)

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  15. When I was pregnant three other ladies (at work) were at the same time. These three would show up in their husbands sweats and big shirts they NEVER dressed themselves. I even worked in the design dept. of a children's clothing company. I however made all me maternity clothes. It drove me and the bosses crazy. One of the owners, came up to me one day and said, thank you for making the effort to always look nice during your pregancy.
    I am sure you will be the most stylish lady for the next six months.
    Congradulations! I know you have been wanting this for so long.

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  16. Yay! Congratulations! Your dress is adorable too. :)

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  17. Congratulations! I hope you have a wonderful pregnancy, and a beautiful, healthy baby! You look great!

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  18. Congratulations! I have been a reader for a long time but rarely comment, I am just thrilled for you and I look forward to seeing all of your creations for both you and baby! If you haven't already done so, you should check out DIYMaternity.com which is a site run by Megan Nielsen with a bunch of great maternity patterns and tutorials.

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  19. Whoohooooooo! Congratulations! Your sewing skills will be a godsend because maternity clothes pretty much suck. So happy for you!

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  20. oh.em.gee - CONGRATS! so excited for you...H+H 9 months;)

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  21. I was thinking - wait a minute, did I miss a post? But now I see that you are just announcing. Congratulations!!! How exciting!

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  22. What wonderful news! Better get sewing out of your system now, while you still have this rare thing called spare time.

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  23. Cute and stylish dress! Congratulations on your pregnancy. This is exciting news! I loved making my maternity clothes and I am certain you will too! It will be fun to see what you come up with.

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  24. Oh whatever! You know you just went to the buffet last night!

    har har

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  25. I had a feeling...:) congratulations!

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  26. You are going to have one stylish bebe!

    Congrats again, mama!

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  27. Congrats Amber!

    I second DIYMaternity.com. I had lots of success over there with items I couldn't make work from my regular wardrobe.

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  28. Congratulations! Long time lurker coming out of the woodwork to say congrats! I saw you in yoga on Tuesday night and thought I recognized you, then when the teacher said you name, I felt like I had seen a celebrity. LOL. Don't worry, I won't stalk you. Congratulations again. You'll have the best maternity clothes around!

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  29. Congratulations! I am very happy for you! Welcome to Life's next big adventure :-)

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  30. Congratulations!! That is a cute dress. Have fun sewing your maternity clothes. You will definitely love your maternity wardrobe more if you make it yourself.

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  31. Adorable dress and belly! Best wishes for a wonderful pregnancy. If you want to start babysewing, I highly recommend sewing babywearing gear...ring slings, pouches, mei tai's....oh, and cloth diapers are fun to sew....

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  32. Wow, a great print.Where did you get that fabric ?

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