The new dress

So I've been asked to sew 2 dresses for a gal.  She provided the fabric and the pattern.  It's a pattern from one of the "Big Four", meaning McCall's, Simplicity, Butterick, Vogue.

I usuallly try to stay away from the Big Four patterns because they generally don't fit well.  They are printed in China (or some other far away place) and for some reason, they don't work up true to size.

This pattern looks pretty cute, so I thought I'd make myself a dress.  I also thought it would be a good idea to make mine first, just in case something went wrong.

Good think I did!!!!
There's a line on the pattern that says:  "Seam allowance of 5/8" included unless otherwise stated, and not marked on the pattern."  That means (to me) that there's a 5/8" seam allowance included, unless stated otherwise, and they didn't mark the SA on the pattern, you just have to know it's there.
Well, I worked up a dress and it's crazy small!!!  Ugh! 
So I got DH (Dear Husband) involved.  We measured the pattern pieces and went over everything.  Turns out, hidden within a paragraph about the finished garment size is "doesn't include darts, gathers or seam allowances".
Okay, thanks for making that clear!  And does that mean then that the gathers under the breast area of the dress aren't included either?  So when it says the finished size is 33", I have to add not only the SA, but extra for the gathers as well?

Whatever. 
I went to the fabric store today.  The girls and I picked out a cute yellow with flowers on it and bought nearly the whole bolt of fabric.  If I can get it done, we're all three going to have matching dresses for Easter!  Yay!  And hopefully I can find a tutorial on how to make a tie, so maybe Jack can match us too.  :)

I'll post pics when all is said and done.

Oh, and the dress that's too small?  I'm going to see if I can alter it down further to fit one of my nieces.  :)  She'd love a new dress, I'm sure!  :)

My Sweater

I made myself a sweater!  I'm always so busy knitting for everyone else.  I finally made the sweater!