Tweed Sheath Dress

Fall is here.

For some reason I always get in the mood for new clothes in the fall.  I don't know if it's the cool weather and bundling up seems like a good time to spend far too much time on pinterest checking out clothes, or if it's the back to school vibe where I feel like I need new clothes for my kids to spit up on and wipe dirty hands on.  Either way, I've been sewing clothing lately, and so this is the first of my Fall Fashion posts.

I made a basic sheath dress.

I used McCalls M5927 sewing pattern, version D with version E's longer skirt.

I'm actually surprised it worked out.  I just hacked out my size, and then when I started trying on the pieces as it was coming together realized I needed to use the next size up.  So I took out all the seams I could and was able in the end to zip the thing up.

I picked fabric that seemed good for fall/ winter.

To me it looks like tweed or something, but up close you can see the fabric is actually tiny black and brown houndstooth.  It's a light wool suiting.  I bought it 50% off with a coupon at JoAnns.  The dress took a little over 1.5 yards and cost around $15.00

Some of my favorite features:

Well of course, a dress has to have pockets for me. 

 I thought these were simple and didn't draw too much attention to themselves.  I love dresses with pockets.

I liked the sleeve, that it had room in the armpit.  I ended up sewing the sleeve differently than the pattern instructions, it had you hand sew it to the lining and there's no way I will hand sew if I can figure out a way to use the machine.  I do have to admit there's a little more gather in the sleeves on top than I would like.

Maybe that's just me and not the pattern though.

I lined the dress in black, you can see poking at the neckline.

 Here's a cheesy pose in our backyard.

If I wore the dress alone, I think a thin belt is kind of a must with the waist seam. 

 This belt was from the thrift store.

But the reason I actually made this dress was to wear it under my peacock blue equestrian jacket I made last fall when I was too pregnant chubby to wear it.  

I had the same itch last fall to make clothes, but made this jacket and the yellow/charcoal jacket just to hang up for this fall.

A few weeks ago I pulled out the equestrian jacket and was excited to wear it and couldn't thinking of something that would work. 

 I had used the cognac buttons, and so I thought a brown something would work best.  

{If you have any other outfit suggestions to wear with this jacket....I could use them! 

I actually recently got some basic cognac riding boots and am trying to think of something to wear between the jacket and the boots.  Fashionistas help!} 

 I had to teach at church so I thought I'd try to look a little more put together than I usually do and made the dress in time to wear it all together.  

One of my favorite things about sewing for yourself is you can adjust it to fit your weird proportions...

....like this face excited and creepily showing my enthusiasm for sleeves that are actually long enough!  {Maybe even a titch too long} 

RJ kept wanting to get in the pictures

In the end, I thought it was a simple dress that let the jacket take the spotlight, because it has a lot going on with the color, ruffle, buttons.  

But I wanted the dress to have a little interest other than just plain solid black or something.  I think it works, but I have no clue about fashion really.