Plaid Dress for the Colder Seasons

I made this dress a while ago but didn’t get around to posting about it. This is the first dress I made from a pattern I drafted myself. I wanted it to fit perfectly and didn’t want the hassle of trying to adjust a commercial pattern to my shape. So I got my drafting book out and did it myself from scratch. It’s a simple silhouette with princess seams and it’s fully lined. I wanted a warm dress for winter, which I didn’t necessarily have to layer but could wear straight as it is. That’s why I made longer sleeves for it. I had a lot of problems setting in the sleeves and ended up cutting them twice, but it worked out well in the end.

I also made a matching belt to go with the dress. The belt buckle is covered in the same fabric. My local sewing shop offers the service of covering belt buckles and it was surprisingly cheap (only 4€) and took only a couple of days. I struggled a bit with the belt holes but found it easiest to do them by hand with a thicker thread and a blanket stitch.

Here is another photo of me wearing the dress when it’s a bit colder outside and I feel like dressing it down with a black sweater to reduce the plaid madness.

I love wearing this dress. It’s comfortable, fits well and looks a bit old-fashioned. Just my style!