It's a real shame that the first garments I make for myself are so awful, the pics are awful, and just ugh.
The first dress is a fitting shell B5627. This had ten pages of instructions and took weeks to do. But overall I think it came out really well. I learned some things about working with patterns. I used my reader's digest book in conjunction with it.
One problem I had was the area above the bust was bunching all funny. The bust was sufficiently roomy, the armpit was a little low but not tight at all, the shoulders seemed fine, what could it be? The neck was too tight and ruining the bust area's fit. It wasn't in the guide or the book or anything, I just decided to ignore it and go ahead with other alterations and it solved itself.
There were a lot of alterations I had to make to get proper fit. Of course bust (for "D"), let the waist and the hip out, take the shoulder point in, raise the armhole, widen the neck hole, widen the sleeve (a lot) and fix the armhole for it, and shorten the garment length. But once all that was done, I think it looks really good.
Of course this is still an "ugly dress" for many reasons. One, yellow is not my color. Two, I would never wear a sleeved dress made of (floral!) calico because I am not 10. Three, I can't pull off set in sleeves to save my life.
Also yellow is not my color! The fabric was a dollar from the thrift store. The pattern was a dollar on sale so plus the zip this whole project was about $5.
I may use this dress as pattern blocks for a straight skirt or dress. This dress inspired me to try drafting my own patterns as the bust dart was huge and there were so many adjustments.
Now I did make errors in this dress most notably with hinging the sleeve wider. On the dress the wrist is too wide because I had to make an adjustment on the dress. I fixed it on the pattern after. I also probably should have raised the armhole a little but I like roomy armholes anyway.
The second dress is from B5618. This dress is awful. The shoulders (and neck) were way too wide and I don't think it was roomy enough through the hip, either. Who the hell is shaped this way? If you want a dress like this you could probably just draft it yourself with less drama. I added pockets to this dress so it would at least be useful as a housedress.
I paid a dollar for this pattern and feel ripped off. This fabric was from the thrift store and was a dollar. It is surprisingly soft which is probably why I actually wear this hideous dress.
I also made errors in this dress (ugh, pockets) but there's no point talking about it because we all know the whole project was a waste of time.
