{ post-holiday holiday party }

tonight is eric's holiday work party so I'm attempting to make a dress this afternoon based on one i've been eyeing at work. at some point i hope to write a "knock-off" tutorial, but because i'm racing the clock to get it done, i'll just describe my steps briefly:

1. Find a similar fabric. This makes a big difference. The more alike the fabrics, the more successful you'll be.
2. Find a medium-weight plastic. Heavier than plastic wrap (although this is what I used since I was in a hurry and it's all I had), something resembling ziplock weight.
3. Section by section pin the plastic as smooth as possible to the piece and trace a dotted line around the seams.
4. After tracing all the sections, pin the plastic to your pattern paper. I was out of pattern paper, so I used the back of some leftover wrapping paper.
5. Using a tracing wheel, trace your rough lines onto th paper, remove the plastic and clean up the lines. This part may take some eyeballing to smooth or "true" the pattern pieces.
6. Add seam allowance and sew it up!

                               : :

UPDATE: the finished product turned out better than expected. i actually wore it to the party and the best part was that I only spent $6.53! now I have a dress, a pattern and $100 back in my pocket. the pictures were taken with the iPad so they're not super clear, but here's the final product.