I had to get ready for my first FCCLA National Leadership Conference. This was my first year to have students compete in FCCLA at all, and two of them qualified for Nationals. One dropped out, but the other wanted to compete. I also have a state officer this upcoming school year, and they ask state officers to attend NLC before their year begins for training.
The dress code says advisers must wear "professional dress," but I wear business casual at best in my work and home life. So, I thought at least I could sew dresses because I will never be wearing a suit. I had to sew at least 4 dresses and I had 6 days to complete them.
I had enough of the right fabrics in my stash but I went out and bought new patterns because I don't own many dress patterns and none of them were right for the look I wanted. Atlanta, Georgia, is hot and humid so I wanted a basic A-line or trapeze dress for comfort. No belts! I added scarves from the Dollar Tree to dress up the dresses even more, while not getting too hot.
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| This was my first-try dress. I made A but without a center seam as I wanted to use all one fabric. |
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| This is the pattern for dresses 2-6. I modified and refined the short sleeve as I felt it was not drafted well. I still have some adjustments to make for future use. |
The first two dresses did not turn out well, since they were muslins. But I love the fabrics so I will work on altering them to function better for me.
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| First try on a pattern. I hated the neck detail and felt it did not sew together well. It's a lightweight linen look fabric. On to a different pattern! |
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| Second dress, first try on the pattern I used for all others. Love the fabric, but the darts were wrong for my body. I think it's a rayon blend twill. |
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Dress in knit and I added a sleeve pleat detail.
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| Dress in wonderful rayon, again with sleeve pleat detail. |
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| Lovely rayon blend crepe in navy. Love the drape and swing of this dress. |
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| And a rayon linen look that is nice and heavy. Great sheen in person. |
