Sewing, ever sewing

On Thursday, I got a check for some tutoring I did.  On Friday, I cashed the check and spent all but $1.00 at the fabric store.  You may think this is bad money handling, blowing all my money the day after I got it, but it was more of an investment in cuteness.

The pattern I chose was Simplicity 3744.  I've had this pattern for ages.  I got it about 4 years ago, made a muslin, and never finished or went back to it at all.  So when I got out this pattern on Friday it was all "messed" up from my earlier attempt.  I had to refit it to myself and untape, cut and fix what I had done to the pattern previously (this is hard to understand; believe me, it was a mess).  

 

Choosing the fabric was very difficult.  I wanted a black and white polka dot but the store didn't have what I wanted.  I looked through the appropriate fabrics twice and felt no inspiration.  Finally I went over to the buttons to see if I could find something I liked, thinking that the buttons could inspire me.  So I went through the store again and finally found the perfect fabric to go with my buttons.  

After I got everything fitted and cut out, I got to work.  Maybe you can tell from the picture that there is a front pocket in the dress.  This seemed ridiculous to me; kind of like making your dress into a hoodie.  I figured I would try it but just sew the pocket shut so it didn't bulge.  Luckily, I had to stop yesterday and when I got up this morning I decided to nix the weird, most likely unflattering, pocket.  

I basically made the white dress, lengthened it, got rid of the pocket and added the short sleeves.  The fabric is really black with a grey design.  The buttons are grey and I used grey thread for the contrast stitching.  It looks great in real life and I am very happy with the results.  

Here is the bodice area

And here is the back tab