I know that this is my new A.P.C. dress's second appearance on this blog without my even wearing it, but I'm only showing it because I really, really love it.  And because I think it's shifting my style at the moment from all of the summer frilliness to something more simple.  After a summer spent in dresses with cinched waists and flared skirts I'm suddenly wanting to 
wear looser things.  The fact that smock dresses are a thousand times more comfortable than little '50s day dresses doesn't hurt either.

As much as I'd love to be able to have a Fall wardrobe shopping spree at A.P.C. or Built By Wendy for perfect little smock dresses I just know it isn't going to happen.   It's out of my budget for one thing, but even if I could afford it I think I might feel guilty spending lots of money on dresses that are really very simple (though well-crafted).  So this is where my pretty shoddy sewing skills come in.  I sew badly--I've sewed one dress in my life, and it didn't turn out great (it's lost in the archives somewhere--I'd link to it if I weren't so lazy and half embarrassed).  And it's been a year since I've made anything, but I think I want to try again, if only to see if I can come up with something wearable.

I bought the Built by Wendy pattern on the left last week, and I can't wait for it to get here.  My goal is to make the dress on the very, very left, and to make it something I can wear out of my house!  The pattern looks fairly simple so I'm hoping it will be something I can do.  Though I'm pretty sure it has a zipper, and I'm still irrationally scared by them.