I've been test sewing several patterns lately, mostly because I've been wanting to select a few easy patterns that I can use to teach garment sewing for beginners. Here's a good one I found from Simplicity. I made view B, but I'm planning to sew View A & D as well, including the belt.
For my fabric, I used something from my stash. Believe it or not, I found this black with white pin striped cotton/stretch fabric at Wallmart for only $2 per yard. I couldn't pass it up, so I bought the entire bolt which had about 9 yards on it.
I made a pattern size 16 and used up about 2 1/2 yards. I also used a contrasting thread in my favorite color turquoise for topstitching & for the hem. What I loved most about this particular pattern is that it only has 4 pattern pieces, so it is perfect for beginner sewists. The pleating around the yoke area is pretty simple to learn and although the pattern suggests to use 1/2" single fold bias tape around the neck area for a finishing hem, you can get away with just folding the neck facing inward & then topstitching ( especially if you use a fabric with stretch or knit ). I did use bias tape myself, but if I make this again I will most likely not use it. And although you can't tell from my photo, I added side pockets to mine for comfort. You can also use this dress with or without a belt. I personally think it looks a bit to boxy on me without a belt. Another thing I want to mention about this pattern is that it is a mini dress, so I personally thought it was a bit too short so I added a few more inches on the length, although I could of worn it as a tunic with leggings underneath.
If you are interested in also sewing this mini dress/ tunic but don't have sewing classes nearby that you can attend, there is a pretty good video tutorial on youtube that is pretty easy to follow. Here's the link
