Okay, so I realize that the Colette Patterns 2012 Spring/SummerPalette Challenge ended ages ago, but I did start this dress within the window (and I finished it June 30th and am just now blogging about it), so I am still going to consider this dress part of this challenge. I got two out of three of my projects completed. That’s not bad considering it’s Summer and I now know that I won’t sew as much in the Summer.
I love love love this dress. I love the fit, that it is a wrap dress, the lining (and the weight of the dress created by the lining) and most of all that it has pockets! The ladies reading this know how handy that is. I wore this dress at my birthday party (which I will blog about later) and I had my cell phone in one pocket and chapstick in the other (the important things).
This dress took me longer than I expected because I made two muslins, of just the bodice, to get the fit right. I am so glad I did though, because I feel like I finally nailed the fit in the bust area. I lowered the bust and waist darts an inch and used Gertie’s method of altering a dart, so it is lightly curved for a better fit. The darts are finally in the right place and fit great! I think what I keep having to do must be called an LBA (low bust adjustment). I did turn 36 this year!
I also decided to interline it, also using Gertie’s instructions, which was totally worth it. The fabric was a little translucent, so the interlining added opacity to the main fabric and gave the dress a really nice weight. It is still cool for summer and just feels good on.
Oh yeah, I also changed the curve of the shoulders a bit. They were kind of weird and pointy on my first muslin. The sleeves are similar in design to the ones in the Pastille dress and I liked the way the sleeves fit on that dress. So I just traced that curve from the bodice of my Pastille pattern and they fit great after that.
The main fabric was a cotton lawn and I used a white cotton batiste for the interlining. Hand-basting the interlining to the main fabric took quite awhile, but I got quicker as I went, because I realized that I could be making the stitches a lot bigger than I was and that sped things up.
I want to make more of these. A basic solid color Crepe would be nice. In the meantime, I want to wear this one all the time! I wore it at my birthday party and then wore it the next day (for these photos, do I look like I had too much fun the night before?) and then to work that week (because I figured not everyone at work had seen me in it). Ha! I guess that qualifies this dress for “favorite dress I’ve made so far” status!
It looks so nice! And this may be random, but when I first saw the photo of the front, your tattoos made it look like an extra-scallop-y neckline, which I really like!