Nordstrom's Find

In my quest for the perfect dress pattern, I have been popping in and out of stores trying on things at lunch. I have tried on so many different things that my head spins.

But then, I stopped into The Rack, and the least likely candidate just harmonized some how. It is a solid brown cotton shirt dress from Calvin Klein that was on sale for $54. It didn't make me want to run back in the dressing room and hide!

OK, the color is more flattering than this picture shows, but I would never have imagined that this would look so good on me!

It has a 2" hem which I may let out, what do you guys think?

I also really need to put some kind on lining in the skirt since I refuse to make a slip.

But if that looks good on me, this BWOF from January 2008 might too:

What color? Dark denim with good topstitching? Dark red?

There is hope for this dress as well:

Marfy 1659 basted...

As promised...

I did get it together, but it still needs work. This really is the best picture out of about 20.

I added 2" to the length of the bodice, and I think that if I raise the waist line 1" it will look better.

Yeah, I know that the collar is crooked, but the top fabric looks great! I am not sold on the bottom fabric, it may look a bit poofy. I will see if it relaxes a bit before I consider ditching it.

As for the look on me...

Well, we walked again this evening, and we got out our new 12lb medicine ball which is my new best friend. I also broke out my old pilates ball to sit on while doing crunches and twists while holding my new best friend. Hey, if I can lose 2" off of my hips in less than a month why can't I take 2" off of my waist!?

Happy Sunday!

Good news! Since I have started walking with dh, I have only lost 1 lb, but I have lost 2" from my hips and 1/2" from my waist.

I have been working on my shirtdress and I finally got it all cut out, all the pieces and all the layers. What made it so time consuming and so fun was those little pintucks. It looks so even and so easy at first glance, but when I started laying it out I realized that its going to be a pain to match!

First, there are 5 stripes in one direction and 3 in the other. You can also see from the faint underneath side that the stripes have more of an angle on the top layer than the bottom! I cut some of the pieces single layer like the front and the collars. I didn't worry as much about the sleeves and the back. In order to match the back perfectly I would have had to put a seam down the middle and I didn't want to do that.

I do have the the bodice and the skirt sewn together, today I hope to put all the collar pieces and rig something together for the facing. I also need to get the waist and skirt sewn to the bodice so I can get a clearer picture of the fit.