DKNY Dress Fest

I've been away from home for a bit so no blogging has been going on, and even less sewing.   But I did have a DKNY dress making spree a couple of weeks ago.   You can always rely on Vogue's DKNY patterns for some nice, wearable things.

For some reason I rarely wear dresses.  I went to a dinner recently and every woman there was wearing a dress except for me and they all looked colourful, fabulous and comfortable.  I decided that it was time to get outside the comfort zone and make some easy knit dresses for summer.  

I made some silk jersey dresses a year or so ago and spent most of the time trying to unwrap them from my legs due to static electricity.   Anyone have any recommendations on how to deal with static?  I have bought some anti-static spray and am going to try that for these ones. 

Vogue 1179 is the easiest and quickest pattern ever.  

The original is sleeveless but I have bunged on short sleeves from another pattern.   After seeing the photo I'm going to tweak the sleeves a bit and make them more of a capped sleeve shape.   

The fabric is silk jersey.  I ordered it online a couple of years ago but when it arrived thought - eek - what am I going to make out of this!?  It always makes me think of the Arnold Schwarzenneger movie 'Predator'.  But the simplicity of the pattern makes it good for this kind of large scale print.  

I'm going to make another of these in a black viscose jersey.   It is a great LBD pattern.

The second and third dresses are both Vogue 1194.   Another super easy and comfy DKNY dress. 

This was my first effort, in a size 14 and a grass green poly Vera Wang Lavender jersey.    This is also going to get some finessing, namely taking in the sides and repositioning the waistband.  That upward curving band isn't very flattering.     

The twist is a straight band which is twisted 3 times and tacked down.    

The second version is a lovely silk jersey from Manhattan fabrics.   This was made a size smaller than the green and the band isn't twisted as the effect got lost in the print. 

One thing about this pattern - there is an almost identical one McCalls 6032, although the back is a bit different.   

I'm watching Project Runway now and trying to get some inspiration for summer clothes.