Coach Tour Dress in Knockoff

 

 

 

 

This is basically what it comes down to

      Hey world: I made a knockoff Modcloth dress! Eeeeee, I'm so proud of myself! My dream wardrobe is pretty much comprised of Modcloth apparel, and now I have a dress that looks like theirs but I made it! And I saved money! And I madeeeee it! And it actually looks like the dress I was modeling it after!!!!

     I realized a  while ago that a ton of dresses I love from Modcloth  are pretty basic shapes; they just have lots of cute details that make them look so amazing. I looked up the details on their Coach Tour Dress and it didn't seem too complex. I found the blue double knit on fashionfabricsclub.com and was initially nervous since I'd never sewn with double knit before. The description said it was good for cheer uniforms and choir robes and I was like ehhhhhh maybe not, but I decided to risk it and it worked great. Easy to sew and I don't need a zipper!

And the buttons! I love the little Celtcic knot heart buttons! That's what I love about making my own version of the dress-- I had a basic shape to work off of but got to change it up however I wanted.

I used Simplicity 2145 as a base, but made lots of changes. I made a waistband and the little button tabs, and changed the pleats to gathers in the center. I left off the underbust gathers from the original dress-- I hate boob gathers!!I think they look awkward :P

     I used the bodice for the cowl neck view, because I figured the triangular collar kind of equated to shawl collar. Turns out it's not really; the fit was all loose up top. While trying it on I noticed it actually looked better backwards, so I cut out a 2nd back piece, a little wider, and used it for the front. Whatever works!

the buttons seriously might be my favorite part

  I completely winged it on the collar; I just cut a tube of fabric with the circumference of the neck hole and sewed it on, the put the dress on and dress on where I wanted to cut it. I'm completely surprised it worked out as smoothly as it did; I thought I was going to have to spend a ton of time figuring out how to shape it, but I managed to get it the right shape on the first try!
  
I've never really been into cowl necks, but the dress looked so cute, I figured I'd try this shawl cowl neck-ey thing and see. I think I can pull it off-- I feel sort of like a Boyscout wearing a neckerchief though.

check out that asymmetry ;)

finished all those raw edges with lace. BY HAND AWYEAH!

 All in all, I'm just really happy that I was able to see something I liked and replicate it. It makes me feel so proud and skilled, like, I was able to do that, on my own. Wowza :D