Victory is Mine, Sayeth the Han!

I made a dress!

I made a dress!

I made a dress!

I made a dress!

I’m kind of excited, if you can’t tell.

The dress that I made with my hands is a Bettine, by Tilly & the Buttons, in some kind of drapey cotton or possibly rayon print (it wasn’t labelled and I forgot to ask).

I made the largest size, as it was closest to my measurements, but once again hit the point where I’d put in the elastic, went to try it on, and realised, “oh good, I have made a sack”. All the extra fabric billowed over the elastic, disguising any hint of a waistline. I sighed, hurled the frock to the floor with frustration, and knitted furiously until I’d stopped scowling.

But I was not to be defeated. Half an hour of pulling and pinning and twisting in front of the mirror gave me fresh hope that The Sack could be turned into a wearable garment. I undid all that sodding work on the waistline, cut about four inches off the bottom of the bodice, and tried again – and voila! (This is the same adjustment Emily made, with, I would imagine, a lot less swearing.)

From muu-muu to WOO-HOO.

What I screwed up: There’s a bit of an unintentional pleat at one corner of the neckline, which I may try to do over, but it’s not hugely noticeable – and honestly, I’m so proud of how the neckline works as a whole that I don’t even care that much. I also managed to sew the side bodice seam allowances open at the top, but closed at the bottom – luckily this was during The Sack stage, so I had the chance to rectify it when de-sackificating.

The whole thing does look good, but it’s a lot bigger in relation to my body than the sample pictures would suggest is intended – there’s a batwing thing going on, though the shoulders hang beautifully. (And it is still possible to discern that I have both a waist and bosoms, which is nice.) Given that this is the second time I’ve hit The Sack Issue, maybe I need to go for smaller sizes in future? At least in patterns which incorporate such a giant amount of ease. (Actually, I wrote this before I leaned of the B-Cup Cabal that rules sewing patterns.)

What I learned: A fun interfacing trick: the instructions say to cut out the neckline facing pieces first from the dress fabric, and then from the interfacing, before fusing the two together. I observed that the chances of me producing pieces that matched exactly, and then sticking them together exactly, all without covering my iron and/or ironing board entirely with glue were… slim. But! How much easier would it be to cut the interfacing piece, lay it on the uncut dress fabric, first fuse them together and then cut them out as one? Turns out: much easier. Know your limitations, people, and work with them.

Other Learning Experiences include the value of paying attention to seam allowances when pinning. Also that hairclips and earrings are definitely not acceptable substitutes for safety pins when poking elastic through a narrow channel. I’m getting much more confident in the basic nuts and bolts of dressmaking, too, which is pretty awesome.

What next? I’d love to make this again, maybe a couple of sizes smaller (and with the shortened bodice). I’ve got a nice lot of fabric left over from this project, so I’m thinking of a matching headscarf. I’d like to give The Staple Dress another try. Then there’s an applieque idea for my plain knitting project bags…

Yes, the victory has entirely gone to my head. Even worse – it’s payday.