A dress

As I was getting over illness while still displaced, I spent a lot of time in the lab. One night I made a dress, including the pattern!

I had this koi print fabric for a while, but I was waiting for a project that could really showcase the scale of the pattern. I began with an existing dress that fit me well, and I made a paper pattern by tracing the panels of the constructed dress onto paper. I cut out those paper pieces and pinned them to the fabric, taking into consideration the fabric's grain and print when deciding the orientation of pinned pieces.

Two important steps in sewing with woven fabrics: clip the seams about a quarter of an inch where they curve, and iron the seams open to see the true shape of the garment.

My maternal grandmother was a professional seamstress, and she taught me how to sew when i was five years old! Thanks, Lola!