Dress Making Attempt Part I

So... after several attempts at smaller sewing projects for Hrist, (socks, etc...) I felt ready to tackle the challenge of making an actual dress! Browsing through tons of pics and idea gathering, I decided to go with something rather simple while still having some slight advancements, (for my current beginner level) with sewing. Didn't want my first dress making project to be overwhelming where it winds up out the window hours later... ;)

Let's begin!
Creating a pattern for Dollfies is quite a challenge in itself, with their long slender bodies. After several attempts on paper first I roughed out a pattern and measurements for the dress.
I then took it a step further, I could have clipped out the patterns on paper... but I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and wound up drawing out the plans in Illustrator, then printing them out.
Picked out some cheap white fabric, cotton, perfect for what I had in mind, traced the pattern onto the cloth, cut out the pattern, then.... time to let the fun begin...
I hate collars, I hate them haha, someday maybe I'll be able to get a nice round shape, but not today... little bit of puckering, rip, restart, almost! rip, restart. There we go! Several attempts later, the collar area was finished!

Sewing it all together!

Time to assemble both sides. Phew that was easy. Inside out, looking good! OMG this is looking more like a Muumuu in its current state!    X_X     Anything but a muumuu......



More tweaking and finishing up seams so they don't fray, time to hem up the base! Chucking pins in left and right to hold down the hem, I wound up putting the pin in backwards X_X so when I flipped it up to sew it in on the machine it was a jabbing experience.... however mission accomplished on the hem!

Golden notion attached to the base.

Now to add some of the notions to spice it up!

Time to call it a day for this project! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a chance to finish the base of this dress up before tackling the upper portion.