Making dresses for male proportions - it is easier than you may think

[Seb]

Sounds good to me, what kind of fabric do you think would be a better fit? Have you made a lot of clothing besides these two dresses?

A knit fabric should wrinkle less, never sewn anything in knit though but I want to try. Otherwise some poly blend should also be more manageable.

For the hiking dress I'm looking for something that will be both light, breathable and not absorbent so probably so sort of active/function fabric, maybe I'll go with something a little heavier too, not quite decided yet

I've made a few, a tunic, skirt and way back when I was a teenager I made another dress, officially it was a halloween reapers robe... But that dress got a lot of use in secret.
All have been in cotton weave.

I've also modified a few clothes, adding pockets, patching holes or taking in/adding gussets when needed.

If I had the time, Id love to make most of my own clothes, its just like my home brewed beer and wine, its just plain better and more enjoyable when you made it yourself.

[robehickman]

Sounds good to me, what kind of fabric do you think would be a better fit? Have you made a lot of clothing besides these two dresses?

A knit fabric should wrinkle less, never sewn anything in knit though but I want to try. Otherwise some poly blend should also be more manageable.

For the hiking dress I'm looking for something that will be both light, breathable and not absorbent so probably so sort of active/function fabric, maybe I'll go with something a little heavier too, not quite decided yet

I've made a few, a tunic, skirt and way back when I was a teenager I made another dress, officially it was a halloween reapers robe... But that dress got a lot of use in secret.
All have been in cotton weave.

I've also modified a few clothes, adding pockets, patching holes or taking in/adding gussets when needed.

If I had the time, Id love to make most of my own clothes, its just like my home brewed beer and wine, its just plain better and more enjoyable when you made it yourself.

Knits aren't as difficult as their reputation would suggest, and I've recently made a bunch of trousers out of wonderfully soft Ponte Roma knit (double jersey), that fabric has a lovely drape and I'm sure it would work well for skirts, but I don't think it would hold pleats well. Main thing with sewing knits for me is to go slow, keep my fingers close to the presser foot and press down on the fabric to stop the layers shifting, timing my finger movements to match the feed dogs so the fabric doesn't stretch. A lot of people advise sewing knits on a serger / overlocker - I don't have one and have never used one either.

Those sound like fun projects. Making clothes allows one to make everything fit so much better. The first revision of my sloper that I got 'right', is so comfortable it feels like I'm not wearing anything, and it's woven with no stretch. It really isn't practical to make everything, for most people.

[Grok]

In my experiments with sewing, I have had tow successes (garments worth wearing):

1. A very simple caftan.

2. Conversion of jeans into a skirt.

A caftan can be used for lounge wear. This is an example of a dress like garment that is not close fitting; similar styles might work on males.

Wore the skirt out and about a couple times, but realized that I don't much like using denim for the material.

[robehickman]

In my experiments with sewing, I have had tow successes (garments worth wearing):

1. A very simple caftan.

2. Conversion of jeans into a skirt.

A caftan can be used for lounge wear. This is an example of a dress like garment that is not close fitting; similar styles might work on males.

Wore the skirt out and about a couple times, but realized that I don't much like using denim for the material.

Cool, sounds good and good work, are you planning any others? I suppose jeans weight denim would be a bit stiff for a skirt.

[Grok]

No specific plans at this point. Just thinking about ideas.

Actually I am anticipating an upheaval in my life. The landlord has been talking about remodeling my apartment soon.

Yes, the denim felt very stiff. Not in the least bit enjoyable to wear.