After the success of my By Hand London Elisalex Dress back in November (possibly October?), I wanted to try my hand at another one as soon as possible. It was such a quick and easy make and

A few months ago, I bought this amazing stretch sateen from Blackbird Fabrics. When I first saw it on their website, I knew it would be perfect for Elisalex, but I felt like it was too expensive to justify buying at the time, and so I didn’t get it right away. Cut to about a week later, and they were having a 20% off sale, and they had the exact amount of fabric I needed left. I took that as a sign, and I snatched up the rest of it (getting an extra half meter in the deal!).

When the fabric arrived (in February maybe?), I was smack in the middle of my crazy busy costuming marathon, and so it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I was able to actually work on it. This was the first project I did for myself after the costume craziness, chosen because I was itching to use the fabric and because I knew I would make quick work of the pattern.

For me, this dress is relatively simple: princess seams in the bodice, pleats in the skirt, there was nothing beyond my skill level, and this was a dress I had already made and so I understood how it fit together without consulting the directions for every step. The fabric was very stable, and so all of this put together created just a few hours of work one afternoon after work was done for the day.

Here’s the finished product:

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Challenge Check: Sewing Bingo

This one fit into the sewing bingo challenge for the year, under the category “Something Special.” I’m planning to wear this to my friend’s bachelorette party in June. Thus far, this has been my easiest challenge to complete, as most of my makes fit into more than one category, and I am able to apply almost everything to a number of these.

After a few months hiatus, it feels really, really good to be sewing for me again! This past weekend I completed five different projects (most in varying states of being “almost done,” not five projects from scratch), so I am looking forward to sharing them over the next couple of weeks.