There are of course lots of versions of this dress on the net and the more I saw it the more I knew it was for me - and I wasn't wrong!
The fabric I used was from a fabric shop in Satwa, Dubai. For anyone not familiar with Dubai, this is the place to go for cheap fabric - yes you take your chances on the quality, but for someone like me who is likely to make a few mistakes at first or if you want to make a wearable muslin its really worth a visit - be warned though you will have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince in terms of fabric!! This cotton lawn purports to be Liberty - I'm not 100% sure of that, BUT it is lovely and light and I adore the colour and the design so hey who cares!!! Abu Dhabi is pretty good for notions and bias binding and zips in many colours are very cheap. Thread on the other hand is 'interesting' - there is a lot of very cheap (20p per reel) cotton thread, but I have concerns about the amount of cotton which sheds into my sewing machine. The polyester thread however is more like £5 per spool!!!
I do hate cutting out - but set an afternoon aside and to be honest it was not too much of a chore.
The pattern instructions are typically not detailed but there is enough to follow. I did make an initial booboo when I basted the front bodice pleats the wrong way around! See below..... when I tried the fronts on I wondered why they looked a bit odd - but thankfully I had noticed before I sewed the bodice to the skirt! For my next version (and I feel there will be many...) I would sew up the bodice front to the height I need as it would be very easy to do at that stage and in fact a number of versions I have seen have a full wrap over style for the bodice. I waited until the end on this version, which was fine and looks perfectly ok, but a note to self for next time!
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| Pleats going the wrong way!! They should be facing outwards and not inwards! |
I was very happy with the bias binding I bought and I think it added to the finish of the garment! Also something to note is that I 'overlocked' all of the seams! I did this on my sewing machine as I don't have an overlocker (yet - I have made many many hints to my husband!!!!). My previous makes have all had seams done with pinking shears but it was better to overlock. Mind you for this I changed my thread to the cotton above mentioned given the price of the polyester!!
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| Very happy with this!! |
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| And then there were POCKETS!!!! |
Pockets were a revelation!! I have made some dresses before but never put pockets in because I thought they were too hard! Silly Silly Me!! They were easy to do and of course fabulous!
I did put an invisible zip in and it was sort of ok....... the ties are set in with the zip and bodice and I did get them slightly off! However the dress easily goes over my head and I don't like tight waistbands (this sits above the waist) and so next time I think I might get away with no zip and attaching the ties into the back seam - or having the ties separate - again I have seen versions done like this.
Managed to get a pretty good match on the zip colour!
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| Yay for pink zips |
So overall I absolutely adore this make. Its a very flattering dress and every time I have seen a photo of it the wearer looks stunning! Its easy to sew but still has shape and character and I could see it in a chambray or a linen for next time! If you are thinking about making it then please do - you will thank yourself!
I probably need to get some better modelled photos - still not happy being the other side of the camera (ever since Moon Faced Steroid 'Gate'!!!).
Also I would like to thank the stupendous support from the Curvy Sewing Collective on Facebook - over 600 likes for my photo has left me speechless - I love you ladies!!!
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