You know how it happens: You plan on doing something easy and fast and then it turns out as one of the most complicated projects you've ever made. My plan was to make a dress I could wear on a one day business trip. It had to be comfy, look nice, but not too dressy, and be wrinkle-protected. It had to be the "IT" dress - you wake up, you put it on and you look and feel fabulous even on a bad hair day. I chose wonderful jersey fabric in navy for it. And this is where the trouble begun.

I've chosen the fabric and the style. I had over a week before the trip that included early morning flight, long line at customs, meeting itself and then way back late night. i have thought through the process, made sure it was easy enough to finish it in a week even if something goes wrong. But things are never easy with me. Almost every thing I make have a story behind them.

I drafted the pattern and cut the fabric, but when it came to sewing my sewing machine refused to cope with the fabric. I have spent 3 days running around local stores looking for proper needles, thread and googled for any possible solution. I have tried everything and ended up frustrated angry and a sewn-through finger. For two more days I've been mad at myself. Of course, there was no way i could make it before the trip. But then I decided I would hand-stitch the whole dress.

Actually it was not as bad as it sounds it took me about 8 days sewing 2-3 hours in the evening after i got off work. It could be faster, but working as a website tech support I could hardly handstitch more than 2 hours a day.

And now the REALLY interesting part. The dress))). I borrowed the style from Marilyn Monroe's dress from "There is no business like show business".  This gorgeous dress was designed for her by Travilla. Since I needed a fast and easy to make dress i have simplified the pattern a little bit. And jersey fabric helped a lot to make fitting easier. Also this dress meant to be worn in winter (in February it may get as cold as -25C), so i made it a long sleeve.

1. Draft a basic fitted dress pattern. Or you can use ready pattern from any sewing magazine. I drafted my own pattern based on old sewing book published back in USSR in mid-50's.

2. Cut the front part at the top of front vertical pintucks (shown with red line).

3. Cut the pattern on a black line to create a V-neck.

4. Then cut your pattern on blue lines and move the cuts a little bit apart - about 2 inches. These will be the pleats at the bottom of the V-neck.

5. To make a middle section of the bow extend the V-neck line at 3-4 inches.

Ok, I know it doesn't sound too simple, but this is mainly because I am explaining it in a complicated way))).

I plan on making a short sleeve version of it, so I will add a detailed how-to on a middle bow part drafting and assembly.

So keep an eye on the blog)).