Hi everyone! First of all, I’m so excited to see so many people posting Top 5 lists up on their blogs! I’m really enjoying reading them, and I hope you are too! Thanks for joining in!
A week or two ago I got the urge to make a pretty dress for Christmas day. I knew it had to be comfy, for lounging and eating massive amounts of dinner! I immediately thought of the Washi Dress by Made by Rae, which has shirring in the back. Perfect for comfort, right? I was a little worried about the highwaist and pleated skirt though - I’m rather round, and anything that flatters a baby bump is probably not a great choice for me!
There was only one solution: Make a wearable muslin and find out! But a funny thing happened along the way…
I ended up making a sundress! In theory it is sleeveless to wear under cardigans, but somehow with the light colour, it reads really summery to me. I didn’t realise how light it was… in fact, I have another dress in fabric from the same line, and the grey background is much darker!
In fact, I wore this dress today!
The good news is that the dress was quick and easy to make and well drafted… though I had to do some pretty serious bust adjustments! The shirring was a fun challenge, though it took a lot of problem solving to get it right.
Voila! The back.
Unfortunately, the shirring makes it hard to add a full lining, so I can’t wear it with tights. Seriously, it was clinging to everything like mad - even to my undies when I didn’t wear tights! Not terribly practical in winter.
The U-cut out was fun to make, and easy to do… but it does gap a bit on me. I think I needed to take out even more fullness in the darts…
But now the crux of the matter: Does it flatter? In short: No. To counter-act the preggers look, I added an inch and a half to the bodice, but most of the got eaten up in the bust adjustments. Still from the front it’s quite cute… but oh, the side views!
Guys, it’s not good. I made myself slouch comfortably in these shots, because I’m never going to have great posture in real life… and I’m not delusional - I know what shape my body is, and I quite like it. But compared to other dresses I’ve made, this one is doing me no favours! I’ll wear it in summer, but it’s not what i want for a holiday dress.
So, back to square one. I want to put my pretty Liberty Lifestyle cotton to better use. But how? I”ve got pretty liberty Lifestyle cotton, and lovely soft teal lining all ready to go, but no pattern! I thought of doing another Truffle, since you have all been so complimentary about my seersuckerTruffle in the roundup… but wouldn’t ya know, i’ve lost the pattern somewhere in the depths of my sewing room! I could do another modified Alma dress, like the washi tape one above… it’s casual and comfortable, and reasonably flattering… Or I could do Peony #6? Nothings jumping out at me right now… and I’m running short on time, so it has to be a pattern I’ve used before.
Luckily, last night I whipped up a Tiramisu in red patterned jersey, so I’ve got a back-up ready! (Side note - Love that Triamisu pattern! I’ll be making a lot of those!)
Now to get some sleep - and dream of sewing! Honest truth - How many of you either dream of sewing, or think about it as soon as you wake up?
No comments:
Post a Comment