OhSewCrafty Blog

This dress took me longer to make than it should.  I bought all the fabric remaining on the bolt, but it was a bit short of pattern requirements, so the cutting was painstakingly slow, as I tried to make every bit count.  The pattern was very well written; it had 60 steps and french seams were used throughout (except on the facings).  I had some trouble with the  back neck, made a rather impulsive decision to rip out and redo, and wasted several hours reconstructing it exactly like it had been (which was the best I could do given the fabric, more on that below).

The fabric, while lightweight was not truly light enough for this design in my opinion.  There was simply too much bulk at the front and back vnecks to get perfect points.  I wouldn’t mind making this again; I’d use a super thin fabric that still had some body- silk crepe de chine would be perfect.  I’d also cut the bodice sides below the armholes and midriff a bit wider; the dress fits me in this area, but there’s very little ease, even after using 3/8″ seam allowances here.  A bit more breathing room would be nice.  I don’t think my ribcage is that big, so I’d advise checking the fit before cutting.  I made the armhole facings about an inch shorter; they seemed to be much longer than necessary.  My last quibble, I made the side invisible zipper a bit too invisible through the midriff section; there is enough fabric bulk here, with the faced midriff, that I should have made the seam a little further from the zipper teeth for smoother operation.