How many yards are needed for a simple dress?

[SillyLilStinkweed]

Hi. I'm not using a pattern. I'm going to sew a dress about this size. onehttp://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...icial%26sa%3DN.
On average, how many yards are needed? 1, 2, 3?
The fabric is 50 inches wide. I just have no idea how much to order. I'm taking a sewing class right now and this will my first attempt at adult clothing.

Thanks for any input that comes my way.

[rubelin]

that is a pretty complicated pattern. Generally, you need the full length of the front and back (measure from your shoulder to the length you want and double it), plus the length of the sleeves (from the top of the arm as long as you want). You can usually cut a bodice out of one length (meaning the front and back are cut next to each other instead of one above the other), but, for that dress, you might need extra to get the full sweep you want.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

If I really knew what i was doing and the fabric had no nap or pattern (so it didn't matter what direction) I might be able to get that dress out of about 2.5m but I would go with 3m or even 3.5m so I have some room to play around with.