Your favorite dress and my 2011 sewing targets

I was dying to know this. Out of all the garments I’ve sewed in 2011, which were the favorites amongst readers and your responses during my birthday fabric giveaway have given me some insights. The competition was fierce and here are the top 10, each winning by a single vote! The most mentioned dress was the Jason Wu Bow Dress. This didn’t surprise me, it was a fave fabric on a fave pattern on a dress I have been wearing a lot! It was also fun and simple to construct. Definitely my fave dress of 2011 too! While I have styled it with a belt for the photos, I normally wear it without belt as the bloused effect of the bodice and the fit made the dress pretty flattering on its own.

There was a tie for second place. The 40s Sweetheart Dress I made for Valentine’s Day and the Blue & White Parasol Dress.  I would consider these dresses the two I spent the most effort on. For the sweetheart dress, it was my first experience sewing with such a difficult silk blended fabric. Its placing as THE project with the most time consuming fabric cutting process is indisputable.  The parasol dress probably took up the most time for fabric placement and bodice fit but that experience was fun for me. I think I find a lot of satisfaction when stripes matched. It was also unnerving when I had to cut slits in the skirts to insert those pockets while trying to decipher the brief instructions. Two challenging projects which I am happy with despite the issues I faced making them. I will have to start wearing them more to make them worth my effort:)

Another tie for the fourth spot. The Much Needed Curves Kitty Dress and The Abandoned Hangar dress. I’ve totally enjoyed making these two and felt a confidence boost whenever I’m wearing them. The Kitty Dress, based on Colette Pattern’s macaron, is so flattering and creates the illusion of a tiny waist that even my friends thought I lost weight-  Scoring BIG points for any pattern!  The Abandoned Hangar dress was made using the 1939 Evening Gown sewing pattern from Eva dress (a reproduction of McCall’s 9906 ), one of my fave patterns. It is body hugging with a flare skirt and incredible gathers on the bodice.

It’s tie for the sixth position for two dresses made from the same pattern! Simplicity 2591. The Au Revoir Dress and the Giddy with Polka Dots Dress.  Both easy to make, wonderful everyday dresses I wear on a regular basis.

There is a three-way tie for the eighth spot. The FELA Tribal dress, the Gather & Go Dress and the Sewn on Borrowed time dress. The FELA dress being on this list shocked me. I’ve always assumed that more comments correlated with more likes. This was one dress with few comments and yet made it to the top 10 list. Personally, I do love the fabric combo and hope to wear it more. The Gather & Go Dress has become a go to dress for me. Knits are just easy choices for casual wear and I intend to sew up a few more versions of the dress.  I love love love the Sewn on Borrowed time dress but have yet to find an opportunity to wear it.  I am actually contemplating unpicking the lower skirt section and wearing the top with the W seam and beads as a pretty blouse. As you can see from the photos, I am so unimaginative when it comes to posing kekeke.

The other thing that has been on my mind is whether I have met my targets for the Sewing Through the Decades Challenge and the Craft Book Challenge, two other challenges I’ve taken up while doing the Sew Weekly Challenge. I’ve finally found some time to update the lists. I’ve definitely exceeded targets for the former but for the Craft Book Challenge, I am one project short. Oops!

I’ve just placed a link to my brand new Twitter account below the subscription bar so do follow me on twitter for updates on new projects, drool worthy patterns or fabrics, tutorials, giveaways, polls or just to get to know me a little more. I’ll love to hear from you:)

Have a good sewing week my sewing comrades! Let’s persevere!