A Winter Sewing Savings Tip.

Here's a very practical dress--a flannel shirt dress from Land's End for $99.95 (or less if you qualify).  The customer comments are interesting and informative.  One must pay attention to the details listed for the garment.

What I want to show you is that you can make this dress  following JoAnn's (that's all we have in our area) ads using a pattern on sale (examples below) and  a flannel plaid on sale or using a coupon, perhaps similar to this Black Watch plaid and make a dress for about 1/3 of the cost of purchasing this dress.

Matching plaids can be tricky.  Careful pinning eliminates a lot of frustration as well as frequently checking to see if the plaids match .  For sewing a flannel dress quickly, fabric that is a solid or small herringbone or weave that doesn't need to be matched would be less stressful.

The following styles vary in sleeves and neckline treatments.  If you want something very close to the above dress  I would recommend McCall's 7351 view D and borrow a longer sleeve pattern from another top or dress and lengthen the hem or use Simplicity 8014 view A which I made and sews up nicely.

The easiest and maybe the quickest pattern might be the McCall's 7682  and lengthening the skirt.  If the skirt is not too full and use only the front and back pattern pieces doubled, then add the length you want plus a hem to the final yardage for the dress.  So if the dress length on the pattern back ends at 35 inches and you want your dress length to end at 45 inches then add 10 inches plus 1 inch for hem for front and back pieces which would come to 22 inches total to add to the yardage listed, i.e. size 14 calls for 3 7/8 yards of 45" then add 22" for the longer length and the total yardage to buy would be 4 1/2 yards, because   3 yards 31.5  inches (7/8 yd) plus 22 inches would equal 4 yards and 17.5 inches or rounding it off to 4 1/2 yards.   I hope that makes sense.  Otherwise just add tissue to lengthen your pattern and lay it out on  muslin to make sure how much extra fabric you really need for your preferred skirt length.

(I would so like to photo shop the blue denim dress and move it down to mid calf on this picture!  It needs balance.)

You can use this idea whenever you find a ready-made dress or outfit you like.  

Just remember to bring honor and glory to the Lord in everything you do.  How we dress does make a difference to our Heavenly Father.  Put on some hymns while you sew or listen to a sermon if you have the quiet time!