Skip to main content

An Ordinary Day Dress from Ottobre Woman


Some pattern companies identify their patterns by numbers, some give them names- often a female first name.  But Ottobre gives each design a a name that often describes the item, or the situation it will be worn in.   This design was called "An Ordinary Day".  This dress is anything but ordinary!  I would have called it "A Very Crazy Day".  Just what you need to wear when everything around you is chaotic.  Here's the line drawing from the issue- this is the Fall/Winter 2015 Ottobre Woman- available here.  In looking at this again, I didn't get it quite right!  My front center panel goes all of the way.  Darn it!

Let's start from the beginning- the tracing.   This is basically the same design as another dress in this issue- #1- Twig.  I made Twig when I first got this issue here, and wanted to test the fit of it before I delved into the pieced version.  But while tracing Twig, I also traced the lines for the Ordinary Day pieces.  This is what my initial front piece looked like:

So, for making it out of one fabric, you just place this on the fold, and cut on the outside line- ignoring all of the other lines.  But for piecing it, you need to trace separate pieces for each section, making sure to flip the pattern over where the section crosses into the other half of the dress.  I thought that that one line was a grainline, so I should have checked against the line drawing before I was done.  But, it all did fit together, so it's okay.  So, my pieces for the front pieced version look like this:
Here's the initial back:

And here are the back pieced pieces:

I used plastic painter's cloth to trace over the initial piece.  I hope that I'm not scaring anyone with these pictures, as it isn't hard.  I actually enjoyed it- like putting a puzzle piece together in reverse.  You do have to pay attention to right versus left, which I have never been good at.  I always get them mixed up.

I don't know about you, but I generally keep my scraps if they are over 3/4 yd long.  Why 3/4?  Because that is about how much I would need for a bodice or a sleeve or even a skirt.  All of these pieces are scraps from previous projects.  The pink is a lightweight jersey, the print is a scuba, and the skirt is a sweatshirt fleece.  The black is the reverse side of the scuba.

Even though they were all different weights, they all were knit, and went together well. The sweatshirt fleece is perhaps a bit thick for this, as it doesn't want to drape very well, but it will do.


I really like the pocket, and chose to use the print for both the binding and the pocket itself.

Now, after all of the fun that I had making this one, I decided to pull a few more scraps and make a second one.  I used a neon pink knit, a black and white houndstooth, a magenta and black ponte.  I think that I went a little too crazy on this one.  If I had just used solids with the neon pink, maybe then it would have been just the right amount of crazy, but mixing the prints with the neon, I think went too far.  Oh, well.  What do you guys think?

I think it looks a little like activewear, and it may grow on me.  Perhaps if I wore it with a black sweater to cover up some of the pink, that would tone it down enough.  Or one of my twenty-something daughters may be braver than I and take it on.  We'll have to see!  I think that the pockets are super cute on this one. 

But I do like my first version quite a bit and highly recommend it!  You could also make it from a single color, and use some decorative stitching to highlight the seamlines, if you want a more tranquil version.


If you don't have this issue and would like to make your own Very Crazy Day dress, here's a link to it on our website.

Happy Sewing!

Ann


Comments

  1. Oh I live those dresses! I don't think they are too crazy at all. I have this magazine and would love to make my own version. I keep scraps too so who knows what I might find!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love those dresses too. I particularly like the neon one. I don't have too many knit scraps but I will get some for this dress. They both look fantastic. Wear both!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree - both dresses look great. I'd totally wear them. Wear and enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love both of them so much. Great fabrics and the pocket is wonderful. Wear the pink one with a long necklace with some black. I think that will help the pink.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like both versions. What great way to use up scraps yet they don't look like left overs at all.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Very cool! I love them! I can't stand to throw out those left over pieces, but I'm not quite sure what to do with them. You have given me a great idea! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think I love the neon one more than the other one! I just made the #1 dress, not I have to tackle the pieced dresses!

    ReplyDelete
  8. As a lover of mixing prints and solids I love them both .You look so fun in it and I love the way you styled it. What a cool pattern and I'd love to get my hands on it!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you so much for this post. I just traced the pattern for my daughter and myself (two different sizes). I am off to have a glass of wine now, lol. Again, thank you for taking the time to take pictures and post this. It was incredibly helpful to refer back to as I traced.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for visiting my blog! I would love to hear your opinions! Please share your comments here.

Popular posts from this blog

What to Wear in Madagascar

To be honest, I have no idea what to wear in Madagascar, and this title may need to be changed to "what NOT to wear in Madagascar" in a few months.  We will have to wait and see.  My 22 year old daughter, Alyssa, left for the Peace Corps this week, and she will be stationed in Madagascar for the next 2 years and 3 months.  Yes, you read that right- TWO YEARS and three months!!! We are very proud of her for wanting to help make the world a better place, and for being fearless in doing so, but it will be a looooong time for Mama and Papa back home. Not knowing anything about Madagascar, the first step in figuring out what to pack was to figure out the weather and the cultural norms.  Madagascar is a very large island off the southeastern coast of Africa.  It's very, very unique in it's ecosystem, and has many species that are not found anywhere else in the world- most famously lemurs. Right now, it is experiencing it's rainy season, as you can see by the

Vogue 9305 Asymmetrical Tunics

It's April and we're expecting snow tonight.  Have we switched hemispheres?  Nevertheless, I am sewing with visions of warm sunny days.  And for those warm sunny days to come, I imagine sitting in the shade with a light breeze flowing through the air, enjoying a light beverage with friends.  Just close your eyes and you can imagine too.  What would you be wearing?  Well,  I love a dramatic asymmetrical tunic made of the softest linen.  As luck would have it, I found just the fabric in the "As Is" section in Fabric Mart's sales category.  With just some irregular dye marks on the selvage, it was marked down, but still completely usable.  It started out as a solid color, but I did an ombre dip dye process to get this look- more on that later! For my pattern, I chose Vogue 9305 , a tunic with a shaped hemline, and two styles of pants (I didn't make the pants).   This pattern must be the biggest bang for your time possible.  The tunic went tog

Grey Cashmere Coat Simplicity 3672

For the past few months, Fabric Mart has had the most gorgeous array of Michael Kors Wool Blend Coatings that I have ever seen!  During COVID stay at home time, I've been letting my gray grow out, and I thought that even though some of the delicious sounding shades like apricot and apple green would be beautiful, the heathered gray shade would be the most flattering to my gray hair and the most versatile for a winter coat.  And it was one of the coatings that listed Cashmere as one of the fiber components, so I was curious as to how that would feel.