how to make a floral dress

i'm a terrible teacher. explicit directions have never flown from my mouth. but i wanted to post my process of making a dress. so though they arent guidelines on how to make a dress, it may inspire you to make your own....it all began with a bolt of fabric i've had hidden away for years. the fabric is heavy cotton weave i purchased from a garage sale i found it while searching for something else, and became mesmerized by the fuschia, purple, and orange flowers. i immediately knew i had to work with it. i first considered a high-waisted pencil skirt, with pockets. but hell, why not go all out with a dress? i worked out a sketch that eventually became a wide-strapped, high-waisted sun dress....i employed the help of fanny the manequin for pinning purposes. this proved to be tricky, as fanny is much more endowed than i. the hardest part was figuring out the way the straps would lay with the rest of the bust fabric. hand-stitching was required to get the straps secured without an ugly seam.i wanted the skirt to have angled pleat pockets, which tooks some trial and error. the back part of the pocket needs to incorporate the shape of the skirt edge, while dipping down as far as you want the pocket to go. in the past i've accidentally made them way too shallow, only an M&M would fit.
after the pockets were squared away, i wanted to do 2 pleats on either side in the front, 4 in all. and only 2 in the back. no need to emphasize anything back there....after the pleats were pinned, i attached bottom to top with one seam. the next step, and sometimes the most frustrating, was to attach a zipper. the trick is to sew the seam all the way up where the zipper will be installed. that keeps the fabric nice and tight. then once the zipper is sewn on, take a seam-ripper and worker the thread out until half an inch from the bottom of the zipper. with a short, hand-stitched hem, the dress is done!!