I want to sew all the dresses!

After surviving the regimented sewing of July as I completed my mini-wardrobe, I decided to motivate myself to sew using another series of short-term goals. Originally, here's what I wanted to sew for this month:

• A ruffle skirt and set of bloomers for my toddler (done--will post pictures when I get a chance).
• The HotPatterns Cote D'Azur dress (I made the top version of this a few years ago, but pulled the pattern back out because I wanted a dress version. This is in progress, will be done in a few days.)
  
  

  

  HotPatterns Cote D'Azur

•  A Sally Romper by Green Bee patterns:
  

  

  Sally dress and romper by Green Bee

  
  

  
  

• A denim skirt (probably via the Cake Hummingbird skirt)
• Another Mimosa blouse.

But right now, I really want to sew dresses, after I finish that adorable romper, of course. We've been having a really stinkin' hot and dry summer in Seattle, and I've been wearing both of my Moneta dresses every laundry cycle. While the denim skirt definitely fills a hole in my wardrobe, what I want to wear Right Now are casual dresses that I can just throw on. At the moment, I have FIVE dresses in various positions on the covet/sew scale. Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Alder Shirtdress by Grainline studios

This dress and the Colette Myrtle are really the "in" dresses in the online sewing community right now, aren't they?

Grainline Alder shirtdress

I fell in love with this pattern as soon as it was released, although I didn't pick it up until I had a chance to get it as a freebie as a "thank you" for managing a PatternReview contest. I'm going to need to do a lot of alterations to get the Alder to fit--it's drafted for a B-cup, so I'll need a sizable FBA, and I'm not sure where I want to rotate the resulting Big Honkin Dart yet--maybe to the shoulder as gathers?

Catalina dress by Blank Slate Patterns

Melly at Blank Slate has been releasing an increasing number of women's patterns (to supplement her awesome children's line) in recent months. I haven't bought this one yet, but it looks pretty much like my idea of a perfect maxi-dress.

Blank Slate Catalina dress

This dress ticks a lot of "wants" for me that you don't always see in maxi-dress patterns:

• Shoulder and bra strap coverage
• Shaping via elastic/drawstring waist
• Pockets!
• Easy-but-non-baggy fit

Comino Cap Dress/top by Kitschy Coo Patterns

 I blogged about this one a while back, and it still hasn't fallen off my radar.

Comino Top and Dress by Kitschy Coo

I'm starting to see versions of this pop up on the blogosphere, and they're just reinforcing my desire to make it. T from u & mii and the Curvy Sewing Collective recently blogged her version, and it's very cute and flattering. I really love the sweetheart neckline, though, so I'd probably make that version. I know that sweethearts can be bust-emphasizing, which isn't what I want, but I think if I did a darker color/print on the main body and a lighter colored fabric as contrast, it would even things out.

Hawthorn by Colette Patterns

I know that I'm one of the last sewists on the internet who hasn't made up the Colette Hawthorn dress, but I still really want to make this. I want to make it so badly that I've purchased four yards of a really lovely, drapey charcoal chambray to use for my "good" version once I get whatever fitting issues ironed out via muslin.

Hawthorn by Colette Patterns

I know that I'll need an FBA on this one, but the lack of an already-present bust dart makes this easier to deal with than the Alder. For the Hawthorn, I'd simply do a traditional FBA and leave the bust dart in place.

Myrtle by Colette Patterns

The Colette Myrtle is the other big dress pattern of the moment.

Myrtle by Colette Patterns

I have the perfect fabric for at least one of these dresses in my stash (a super drapey cotton-modal jersey with an abstract print), the dress has looked great on the curvy sewists who have made it so far, it has pockets, and it's a fast and easy sew.

I don't see any way that I'll have time to sew up all five of these before the weather starts cooling off, but I'd like to make at least 2 or 3 of them (if not 3 or 4). Have any of you made any of these patterns up yet? What did you think of it? Or are there any of these that you're really dying to see made up on a curvy, plus sized body?

A final note about the internet being the internet

Thank you for all of your heartfelt comments on my post from last week about random negative comments, body image, and taking things personally. It's frustrating that to share how a garment looks on a curvy or plus sized body with fellow sewists, you essentially open yourself up to negative comments, whether intentional or not. And yeah, you can "grow a thicker skin", but when someone hits upon something that you're already self-conscious about, that's hard. And besides, you're not the one with the problem; the commenter is.