In the past several years, we've made friends with several Amish families in our community. And being invited to attend a wedding is kind of a big deal. For the first 2 weddings we went to, I was given a sample of brides fabric to make something to wear. For this one, I bought fabric and made the Vali Dress by Pattern Fantastique
I bought 4 yards of a navy tonal poly fabric. I used my favorite pocket construction vs. the weirdly cut on pockets in the pattern.
And because I had made it before, I knew from the top version what changes I wanted to make to the dress.
Last year I started keeping a notebook of my sewing. It's the first thing I've really stuck with and I'm glad I did, because my alteration notes are there.
They say that I added 2" to the skirt length. I was aiming for maxi and clearly hit midi, which is okay. I cut a size 20 yoke, but then I cut the 26 sleeve and skirt. I also put the skirt 2" off the fold for even more room. What this essentially did was give me more gathers at the top of the sleeve and center front of the skirt.
This is a fun, flowy dress that definitely needs accessories to break it up. While I love how it looks on others, it's honestly not my favorite. All of that being said, this was the perfect dress to wear to an Amish wedding and I received a ton of compliments.
Pictures: Carolyn from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic
Fabric: Poly something from Belmont Fabric, $6/yard. I had 4 yards
Pattern: Vali Dress
Sewn: January 2024
