Okay, everybody clap for Sharon, who has made her first dress! It's a Duro, and it's really lovely, especially for a very first effort. (Someday I will put up a picture of me in the first dress I made, as soon as I can figure out a way to Photoshop out not only my unfortunate braces but also the handful of ribbons I'm holding, so as not to have to explain that I was incredibly happy about spending a week of my summer vacation taking tests in and about Latin. Oops, too late.)
She says there are "lots of little errors" but I don't see any worth pointing out (plus it's not like ready-to-wear is ever perfect) and the colors really suit her, so I say again, brava! Sharon, go forth and do it again. The next time isn't so painful, I promise.
A Dress A Day 
Yay, Sharon! We are always thrilled to welcome new sewers to our ranks!
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so beautiful! that is a great first dress.
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Three cheers and a tiger for you! Congratulations on finishing your first project, it is lovely. And here’s a secret; every single dress has at least one little error, just like every person has at least one little quirk. Amy
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Isn’t she lovely? As a first effort is is quite good, and the fabric and color choices are great. She has a future as a sewist.
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Sharon,Way to Go! You did a super job! Love the fabric! Love the color! Love the shoes that match! Love your craft-woman-ship! Looks wonderful on you. This might be my fave version of this dress yet…I just adore the colors that much. Note: all seamstresses fixate on errors that nobody else can see. I like to go to stores and pick out errors in ready to wear. It makes me feel better about my own skills. I know, kinda sick, building myself up by knocking others down.Congrats.-Janet
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That’s really beautiful, it gives me hope that I can sew up that dress too, I’m a beginner too!
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Aww – thank you all so much! I was very apprehensive at first but decided to take the plunge and borrowed my mother’s Singer ‘Genie’ and just got down to it. Am really pleased with the results, although have learnt lots of lessons from the mistakes I made (like ironing hems before sewing pieces together etc). Thanks for all the kind words and if any beginners are out there then I’d definitely recommend this pattern as a good starting point as it isn’t too hard and there aren’t any zips or pleats or anything like that in it – just sewing. Thanks to Erin for putting it up on the site – I am truly honoured.Sharon x
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Love the dress–where can I find this pattern?
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Way to go, Sharon. Your dress is lovely. I really liked that pattern.
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Hooray! A lovely dress in general, and a beautiful Duro. Congratulations!
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Congratulations on your first dress and welcome to the wonderful world of sewing! Your dress looks lovely on you.
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Sharon – your dress is beautiful! The colors and style suits you very well. Don’t worry about the mistakes, we all make them. Sometimes it’s a learning experience and I often make a game out of seeing how well I can turn a mistake into a great design feature or a general success.Erin – Thanks for posting Sharon and her beautiful dress! You certainly know how to inspire.
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this is so nice. the fabrics and colors complement each other well.
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it’s great! and if you made a mistake, can’t tell. jeez, one time i was making a pair of pajama pants and i cut them along the crotch. well, that fabric became cuffs instead.
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That is really nice. I am addicted to this site.
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applause!lovely, dress and seamstress both.congratulations from someone who has yet to attempt a grown-up dress ~ this has put my toe in the water…estea
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How pretty. I love the colors and that print. I’ve been sewing since I was 9, and I still avoid buttons, zippers and corsetting. Simple and lovely.
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Beautiful dress. I LOVE the print and the colors in the fabric.
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Gorgeous! I love the fabric choices, and concur with everyone else that there are mistakes, and then there are the mistakes that only the designer will ever know about. Yours are definitely in the second category!
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Sharon, what a beautiful dress! And you look great in it. Excellent work!Erin, there is nothing wrong with being happy about Latin. (Says the Latin teacher.)
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Hi I was just wondering what pattern you used to create this dress ! It is great !
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What is a Duro? You use it a lot as a descriptor. I’m going a little crazy trying to figure it out. LOVE this site – it’s my homepage.
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Congrats! My Duro is still in pieces on my floor, having spent all last evening trying to cut out the pattern with too little fabric, then waking up this morning to realize that in my hasty effort to reduce the number of seams, I cut out the side pieces all wrong….
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I like this a whole lot better than most of the Duro’s I’ve seen. You really brought out the potential in this pattern. If only all my sewing projects turned out as wearable as that! Now hop on over to patternreview.com and write it up!
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Yay! Congratulations on your first dress! I wish I could remember mine. A Duro is next on my project list…yours is just more inspiration.
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That’s beautiful! Well done Sharon!
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Hmmm. First dress? It’s so gorgeous it tempts me to try sewing again. I suck so very very much but maybe I’d have some luck with this pattern.
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What a fun pattern this is (I’m starting my second one)! It’s very forgiving and really sparks your creative juices to combine fun prints. Sharon, I love your color combination!
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You might like this auction (not mine): http://tinyurl.com/k2t4eFirst picture, pattern on the right, has pockets, though not very large. Cute dress otherwise.And the second picture, the pattern has an interesting cross-over neckline going on.
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Well done Sharon! The only thing that will feel better than the compliments you’re received here, is the glow you’ll get when you wear your dress and get compliments on it from people who did not know it was from your own hands! It makes you swell with pride to tell them you made it yourself!Sewing is a lot like cooking. You master your first batch of “from scratch” muffins, then eventually progress to lamb roasts. Before long, you’re tackling all kinds of exotic dishes. Every now and then you still manage to completely ruin a simple pancake mixture or wonder at how your baked vegetables came out so dreadfully, but otherwise, each effort gives you greater confidence and skills for the next one.Like Erin and all the other sewists here, I hope your great success can encourage others to pull out the old Singer and have a go. My only advice would be READ the pattern, REALLY READ IT. Don’t cut anything or sew the next stitch until you really know what the next step means. If you can read, you can sew!Have fun!!Emma from Down Under
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Have you seen the August Lucky magazine? It features a two page spread on Duro-type dresses. See pages 86-87.
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Wonderful work Sharon, it’s so pretty!!!
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It’s a beautiful dress! I finished my first dress today too! It was alot simplier of a pattern, but I’m still proud of it.
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Congrats Sharon!
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Great fabric choices! The shoes are fabulous with the dress. As far as mistakes go, they become the foundation for advising others about what NOT to do. Eventually, making enough mistakes can turn you into quite an accomplished seamstress!
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That dress is *darling*. The colors are so wonderful.
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The dress looks perfect on her. She knows what colors suit her. The shoes totaly complete the outfit. That is a great first dress.
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Very pretty dress! Congratulations Sharon!
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Maybe we can start a ‘my first dress’ thread.I don’t remember the first dress I ever made, but I do remember the first official ‘sewing class’ dress I made. It was in Jr. High School in the 70’s. My teacher was a relic of home ec 1950’s. She assigned us a dress pattern. She also decided it had to be lined, and the zipper had to be sewn in by hand. I think she had allusions of teaching us couture sewing. Anyway, making a dress with a complete lining is like making 2 dresses. And here I was living in S. California in 100 degree weather making a lined dress. The dress came out fine. But I’ve never before or since had to sew an ‘invisible’ zipper into anything. It’s just amusing in hindsight when I realize how much harder the teacher made sewing than it needed to be. I can remember admiring that dress in my closet. I cannot for the life of me remember ever wearing it.
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Very pretty colors! Simplicity now has a “Duro” pattern, Any thoughts as to which one is better?
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Someone had asked what a Duro dress was, and the only place I’d ever heard mention of it was on this blog. So I went to google images and typed in Duro Dress and there were five dress photos that came up. Every single one was linked back to this dress blog. On a regular google search I found mention that both Simplicity and McCalls has a duro dress. Simplicity 4072 and McCall’s 5137Here’s a thread about how the patterns differ. http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/sewingclasses/board.pl?t=15307
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Simp. 4072 http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=4072McCalls5137http://www.simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=4072
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THIS is the Duro she speaks of so fondly..http://www.duroolowu.com/GREAT job.. I ADORE that dress!
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Now this dress is haunting me. I passed the pattern books at a dept. store, and lo and behold, on the cover of Simplicity (early autumn) was the duro. Then over on page 86 (I think) was a two page spread of different versions of the dress.The dress I really want to make though, is not the Duro, but the folkart afghani dress. http://www.folkwear.com/107.htmlI hope I still have the pattern somewhere.
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