2020 has been a strange and scary year. But one of the personal triumphs to come out of being home 24/7 is that I got back into sewing. It started with making cloth masks for essential workers (watch my cloth mask tutorial video), and after making and donating several hundred, I decided to branch out and get back into making clothes. I think I’ve made 15 garments so far (both for me and for some friends), plus lots of matching masks, sashes, bows, and scrunchies. Today, I wanted to share 4 of my recent handmade dresses and remind you that I share lots of quick sewing videos on my instagram! Check them out below and let me know your favorite.

4 Handmade Dresses

I found this soft eyelet cotton in the garment district (a store on the corner of 37th and 8th) and I thin I got it for $5 a yard. It’s extremely soft and comfy, so I decided to make a quick and easy tent dress using a yoke pattern in my pattern box. See it in motion here. This is an extremely easy dress to make. Since it just involves a gathered body and any sleeves you want to use — but if you need to follow a pattern, there are lots of good options below.

p.s. I’m wearing the Keiko-Chan glasses from my Bonlook collection.

This one was made with a 1960s pattern:

Simplicity 8075. There used to be several on Etsy, but right now they only have the newer 8075. That is one frustrating thing: they use the same pattern numbers for totally different patterns. I bought about 15 yards of this particular fabric, in this color and in a black version. Almost all of it went into masks, but I used about 4 yards to make this dress. I ordered it from Joann Fabrics, but this is the exact one on Etsy. See below for similar pattern options:

I have a pattern box full of vintage patterns that I found at thrift stores, online, or that were given to me over the years. In one envelope, there were some handmade pattern pieces — some were made with newspapers from the 70s and early 80s! I found these two yoke pattern pieces that were marked “night gown” and decided to put them to use with one of my favorite silhouettes: a trapeze dress. I made some puff sleeves (of course). And to make the body of the dress, just follow the same rules as a basic circle skirt. Just make sure to keep your bust and length measurements in mind!

It’s the easiest style but takes a little more fabric if you want a full circle.

I got this strawberry print Italian cotton (it’s beautiful!) from my favorite fabric shop in the garment district: Metro Textiles. If you don’t see it in his website, give Kashi a call and see if he still has it in store and he’ll ship to you.

The only modification I made to this vintage pattern (1969 Butterick 5225) was an addition of ruffles to the sleeves. I can’t wait to make it again and use better fabric. This was an inexpensive cotton from Joann that I wouldn’t normally use for clothing — especially not something that needs a nice drape — but I really wanted to make a dress for our first big outing since March. We went to the sunflower fields, so I made a sunny dress with a sunflower mask and scrunchie. More photos of that will be posted this week! I’m wearing my Keiko Lynn x Bonlook frames in the first photo.

Which dress is your favorite? Have you made anything, lately?

p.s. Don’t forget: I have a roundup of some of my favorite vintage patterns.