Freestyle Hot Mess Mommy Dress

So I found this fabric on ultra clearance at Joanne's and I thought it could be pretty fabulous.  I was in the mood to sew while little S was napping but didn't have a pattern so I just started cutting and sewing and this is what I came up with.  Note my husband's mad picture taking skills that created a shadow to make me look ten pounds thinner then I have in years.  Love him.

I don't have a full DIY but I did draw out a pattern of sorts if this seems like your kind of dress.  It's just really fun to kind of go at sewing freestyle and see what you come up with.  Get the details after the jump...

And thanks for the post Craft Gossip!

I grabbed a dress that I liked the length of and a shirt i liked the sleeves on and laid them on my fabric and cut generously around the shape.


Here are the pattern pieces I used:

So that ended up way huge but I didn't want to make zippers or anything, so i made some pleats in the back piece.  I folded over the top edge twice, ironed, then pinned pleats in and sewed in place with a straight stitch:

I hemmed the top edge of the front and decided to leave the neckline drapey.  I lined up the front and back so the sleeves matched and sewed them together at the shoulders like so:

I also sewed them together under the armhole to the waist.

Then for the booty area I took two pieces of fabric with the pattern facing the opposite direction and sewed them together, then to the side edges of the front.  Then i gathered the bottom of the back piece, pinned it to the booty piece and sewed it together (with the dress inside out of course):

Then i flipped it over and hemmed the sleeves.  So in the end the pieces go together like this:

I think it turned out pretty fun!  If you give this dress a try (or any freestyle dress) YOU HAVE TO SEND ME A PICTURE!  ok thank you.