Using a Sewing Pattern and Sewing a Shirt

I got inspired to try to follow a pattern again. I don't use "real" patterns very often, so I thought I would give it a shot again. I headed over to Goodwill and found some super fun vintage patterns for 49cents a piece. Things I looked for in a pattern: something I could adapt. For instance, I liked the top part of the dress, but not the actual dress. My biggest issue with following a pattern is how hard it is for me to follow the directions. I am not a spatial person so I need help to read the pattern and figure out what I am doing. Long story short, I had fun making a garment start to finish, but not so much fun with the frustration that I get from feeling totally lost THE whole time! Memories of geometry in High School came pouring back!

Here's the shirt I made. I used the dress pattern pictured on the far right.

Then I added layers to it ala J. Crew style (I literally dog earred the pages of the catalog for things I wanted to make). I made 6 inch strips, sewed along the top giving them a ruffle, then sewed them on seam to seam (hindsight, I should have put them on the front before I sewed the two sides together) 3 inches apart. You can't tell in this picture but the shirt in J. Crew actually had slits along the ruffles (sort of like large rectangles) so I cut about 3 strips vertically on each layer in a brick laying pattern.

And here's the completed project. I need a better cardigan to go with it (or a hip boyfriend jacket that's hot this season) but it's kind of cute don't you think?