Two malls, three mail order catalogs, and at least 8 stores later, it became apparent that current junior fashions are not constructed for a girl over 6 feet tall!

So, the decision to “let Mom try to make something” was finally made  – with less than 10 hours to go.

She did not like any of fabrics in The Stash so, a quick run to the Fabric-Store-that-cannot-be-named was required.

Simplicity 2180

Simplicity 2180 and a blue/gold polyester brocade in a sari-type weave were selected.

The ability to look at a pattern and envision how it might look in a different color or fabric comes naturally to someone who has sewn their own clothing for a number of years.

To a 15-year old who does not sew, however, the vision is limited to just pictures on the pattern.

Well, on the bright side – she loved the fabric!

Cut the skirt with the border along the hem – 8″ longer than suggested by the pattern.  Cut the body length in a 14, the waist in an 8, and the bust in a 10.  (Love multi-sized patterns!)

It was almost done when she got home from track practice.

…and with 2 hours left – it did would not button at the waist!

DD Dress - Front View (the stance indicates how happy she was to pose for the pix!)

The body should have been another 2″ longer to place the waist at her waist.  So, a quick recut of the waist band to now be an “empire waist” waist band….and with 15 minutes to go the dress was done!

She looked beautiful!  The lighter blue is the color of her eyes!  The color was very striking.

DD Dress - Back View

The tie-back was really worth the effort.  It required more than a yard of fabric just for the ties.  They were cut to transition to the royal blue color for the bow.  The fabric does not have  a great deal of body, so the ties also required full interfacing (courtesy of The Stash).

DD Dress- Back Tie Knot

The pattern is very nicely designed for an athletic figure.  The wider shoulders and V-back visually narrow the waist.  I am sure I will be making another dress with this pattern in the future (with a longer waist length).

I saved scraps of the dress fabric for crazy quilting.  It will work well in small pieces – with large seam allowances.  It presented difficulties to sew the dress with, though, as it raveled almost upon cutting – even before I could get it to the serger!

The highlight of this project was that she actually choose it to wear again – so must be she likes it after all!