Made By A Fabricista: The Perfect Plus Size Dress

Hi everyone!

Fall is here & even though it’s technically fall, the weather in Indiana hasn’t caught up yet. I’m not really complaining though, because this is my favorite time to wear all my favorite fall dresses, before it gets too windy & cold.

Today I am sharing one of my new favorite dresses. This dress can easily be worn in a dressy style on date nights or to weddings, or even dressed down with sneakers for a walk in the park. I made this dress using a very beautiful floral bubble crepe. The fabric is a light lavender purple with flowers going multidirectional. This made it simple when considering pattern matching & cutting pieces out. For this particular dress I used 3.5 yards & had no fabric left after cutting. I would not consider this crepe to be a beginner’s fabric, because it was very slippery when cutting and also when sewing, however with patience and ample time many things can be achieved. There are also ways to help stiffen a fabric when cutting or sewing such as: light starch, but the crepe material is intentional for having a soft hand, so it would defeat the purpose.

The pattern that I chose for this dress was McCall's 8195. This pattern has many options to create different variations of this dress and/or “hack it” and create something completely new. For my dress I chose pattern C, which was fitting for fall. It has a fitted bodice that flares into a circle skirt & is zipped in the back to enclose it all. The pattern was very simple to follow and was not difficult to sew at all. I didn’t find myself stopping much, because I didn’t understand something, but the dress pattern did not extend to my size, so I graded it a few sizes up & to my surprise it ended up being too big. Usually I do pretty good with grading patterns considering that I used to professionally do this, however sometimes I run into issues when I grade patterns made by other people.

My favorite part of this dress is the overall silhouette. When being plus size, sometimes it can be hard finding things that flatter your body especially in relation to patterns or even resources in the sewing community. This dress defined my wait & enhanced my curves, while still being very moderate & appropriate. The circle skirt also was very flattering & the fabric draped over everything perfectly.

MACY | @macycamile

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: CREPE.

Made By A Fabricista: A Wooly Wearable Blanket.

Twirling in a me-made outfit! I live in a small town where the nearest fabric shop is a road trip away, so I almost exclusively shop for fabric online. Having access to an online shop like Fabric Mart with a solid search engine is incredibly helpful. But by far my favorite aspect of Fabric Mart is what I call the “Drape Picture” included in each listing! This picture gives me all the information I need and I find it more helpful than the exact weight per yard/square meter. Seeing how the fabric falls close or away from the body gives me a clear idea of how it will behave and inspires me to make it into something that will highlight the fabric’s nature. When I saw the drape of this “Baked Plum” wool suiting , I immediately wanted to immortalize those beautiful folds into a skirt! I opted for a simple self-drafted pleated skirt with a deep hem. I wear my dresses year-round and rely on wool skirts that I layer under or over my dresses for warmth. I cut two panels for the front ...

Made By A Fabricista: Which comes first – the fabric or the pattern?

Ah, the age old question garment sewers are often asked – do you choose the pattern first and then look for fabric, or do you buy fabric and then later decide what it will be when it grows up? If you are a sewist with a large fabric stash (like myself), then perhaps you are on Team Fabric. I would say I definitely lean that way, but there are also times when I land somewhere in the middle – I see a fabric and I think, I’ve just seen a pattern and these two would be perfect together! And that’s how gorgeous dusty rose stretch velvet and a recently released cardigan pattern came together to create the newest addition to my wardrobe. And had me improvising a few things along the way. First. I have to admit - I have a stretch velvet problem. I see it pop up on the website and I almost always grab it, especially if I see a sale. It’s not the easiest fabric to sew (it’s slippery as heck!), but I love it so much and I especially love using it in non-traditional ways. In my last blog post, I...

Made By A Fabricista: Back In The Saddle

If you don’t know in October my beloved Bernina sewing machine blew a fuse and started smoking while I was using it. She went to the shop for repairs, and then I moved. So it’s been a bit since I’ve sewed last and I’ve had trouble getting back into it. I knew I needed a simpler project to get me going again. Julie sewed up a Jarrah sweater recently ( restock coming soon! ) and gushed about how simple and rewarding a project it was. Then we got in this beautiful wool/cashmere sweater knit from England. I was seeing lighthouse keeper, sheep herder in the highlands. I knew it had to be my Jarrah sweater. I did lengthen the bodice by 3 inches. I actually sewed up a mock up with the curved hemline, but decided that wasn’t for me and went with the straight hem. Of course I took zero photos of said mock up. Oops. Otherwise I sewed it up in a size 6 as is. Using the serger this really does sew up quickly. The dropped shoulder creates clean, simple lines that make it easy to sew u...

Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Search This Blog