Sundress for a friend

My friend C had a favourite sundress that she'd worn until it was falling apart. I was able to copy it and make her a new one with some fabric she provided. I think its a great choice.

The fabric is a tropical leaf print in 100% cotton. I think it'll be cool to wear and wash well.

Here it is spread out flat

And turned inside out so you can see the seaming.

A few notes on the copying process.

I laid the dress out so that I could copy half of the back, half of the front, the front side panel and the back side panel. I laid tissue paper over the top and traced round with a pencil. I then added seam allowances and cut out the tissue pattern pieces.

Next I took and old striped duvet cover and cut the dress out and sewed it up. This highlighted a couple of minor issues with my pattern which I corrected. 

I then got C to try the duvet cover dress on. From the try on she decided she wanted to lengthen it at the front for the final version. I made the alterations to the front pattern pieces. 

The fabric layout was quite a tight squeeze as the fabric was only 45" wide. I folded the fabric so it was just wide enough for the front and back pieces and cut those out on the fold first. Next I cut out the side extensions (single layer) and finally cut 2" wide bias strips to finish the neckline and armholes.

First I sewed the front side panels to the front piece, then the back side panels to the back piece. Then the front to the back at the shoulders and sides. I overlocked the seams together.

I then did a bias bound finish on the neckline and armholes, stitching a folded bias strip to the wrong side, then flipping it to the right side and stitching down.

The hems were double turned and hemmed with a straight stitch. It was bulky on the corners.

The second dress made from this pattern.