Well I am so stoked about this little number. I will wear this again and again. Causal or fancy. I love the sleeves and I love the length and I love the bow and I love the waistline. I am so proud of my workmanship on it; I feel like I'm wearing a bought dress! Could be the new little label I have on the inside! (see January 2015 dress)

The pattern is actually for a size 16-22 but I made some guesses and then accommodated with extra fabric and trimmed later where necessary. 

It took me about 9-10 hours to make. Bit confusing in some parts but I finally got the hang of it! After this dress my slip-stitching game is very strong. It's where you go in and out of the edges and the technique makes it so you can't see the thread. 

There is something about this material that is so soft and malleable. It was so easy to work with! I have a bit leftover so might need to make a circle skirt. 

The pattern says to include a petticoat but its a little warm for that right now! Do you think it needs a petticoat anyway though?

Materials: Rose Doona cover from RSPCA Sherwood ($5), sewing pattern from Indooroopilly McIntyre Centre (50c), zipper from Everton Park Lifeline (20c) 
Cost to make: $5.70

Well I have been meaning to make this dress for a while and how delightful it is. 

I'm ever so happy about the skirt part as it turned out to be a circle skirt design (which  I love). The back of the bodice goes high enough to protect from the sun and the sash at the waist cinches in nicely. 

Floaty and fun and relatively easy design. Took me approximately 6.5 hours to make, while enduring this crazy heat that Brisbane is having! 

It has plenty of armhole space and dips in a little so may need a strapless bra. Maybe next time I will use a brighter print but this makes it nice and casual. 

This is also my second cheapest dress!

Hope you had a Happy Christmas and have a Happy New Year everyone!

Materials: double flat sheet donated by Gemma H (thank you!), interfacing donated by Pat, sewing pattern from Eatons Hill St Vinnies (25c), assorted buttons from collection
Cost to Make: $0.25

I had only just enough material for this dress! Had to do the lining of the bodice in a different sheet though as I ran out for that but I thought I would go for the super long dress instead of the medium dress (see pattern picture) for this time. 

Super in love with the back; it was literally the whole reason I made the dress in the first place! It would be great with a neat hair up-do but it was a bit too cold to get too creative with my photo shoot! 
Love the back more than the front, as it could be more flattering for my chest; it really could sinch in a bit more underneath my bust. That is quite easy to alter later though if I choose. 

It took approximately 18 and a half hours to make. Very stoked with the end result; even if it is a little pale: the picture doesn't show the colour of the floral very well. 

I will have to make more bows like this one. The pattern told me to put netting on the inside of the bow which is what has made it stiff and sculpted. Unfortunately I only had fluoro yellow netting and I was worried that the bow would be tinged yellow but it turned out ok. If I was making them in less of an experimental way I would get the right colour. 

Materials: flowery single flat sheet and mattress cover from Ipswich St Vinnies (approx $5), pink bodice lining from Nov 2013 dress scraps, zip from Reverse Garbage ($1), yellow netting in bow and sleeves from Reverse Garbage (used 25c from $6 roll), interfacing donated by Pat, sewing pattern from Bridgeman Downs Uniting Church Garage Sale (25c)
Cost to Make: approx. $7.00

Such whimsy! This is some old (probably childrens) bed linen that I managed to find and isn't it fun?!

I'm sure I wasn't meant to use a one-way design material with this dress pattern, but I had to use the material and couldn't resist this design as it is so simple but lovely. I didn't want the dress pattern too complicated as there is a bit much going on with the print. There are elephants and tigers and all sorts here. I would prefer bed linen that is not so much white but this pattern was just too cute!

It actually turned out way better than I thought it would! I wasn't expecting too much as it is always a hit and miss with patterns that only have a drawing of the dress on the front cover; and no photo. Very impressed with the fit and style and it is super comfortable! I would definitely pay too much for this if I saw it in an OP shop :) 
 
Materials: Single blanket cover from Marsden St Vinnies ($3.50), interfacing donated by Pat, sewing pattern from Sumner Park St Vinnies (20c), zip from Reverse Garbage ($1).  
Total cost to make: $4.70

What a stunner! Lots of extras on this one though! The sewing pattern didn't seem to factor in a couple of things and I had a few extra jobs to take care of before this beauty was finished. 
I had to put extra arm hole lining in as the netting on the inside of the sleeve is super scratchy on your armpit and shoulder! Not fun. 
Then because I was using polyester it kept fraying and fraying and fraying! Had to put some material around the edge of the gathered skirt that connects to the top because otherwise it would fluff everywhere! 
Even though I pressed down with an iron on the hip sash the pattern seemed to think that would suffice! Not so! Had to sew that little one down otherwise the lines would come undone. 

I know the zip is not the most ideal but I had to work with what I had. Hopefully an OP shop will deliver a lovely array of different coloured zips soon. And it does up very nicely at the back as there is a hook and eye; I just felt too uncoordinated at the time to clip it in as I had an owchie on my hand. 

In the end though; super lovely result. Really happy with the fit and I am a sucker for puffy sleeves. Plus I feel like I've done the world a favour as there is one less set of polyester bed sheets. I'm not sure why someone would want to sleep on them; they are not ideal!

Materials: Green polyester bed sheets from Salvos in Sherwood, Sewing pattern from Mackay Vinnies, Yellow netting inside sleeve from Reverse Garbage, Zip from Reverse Garbage, Interfacing donated by Pat, Buttons made by myself, extra armhole material donated by Pat.
Total Cost to make: $9.70