Ta-da. It's finished; it's a dress, it's got cherries all over it and it is indeed fabulous (well I think so). I'm just a little bit overjoyed with how this dress turned out, the pairing of fabric and pattern (V8727) seem to have worked pretty well.
So, what's to report? I only ended up making a couple of changes to the pattern. I added half an inch of fabric at either side of the outer halter top. This was to disguise those unsightly bits of (ahem) fat (for want of a better word), that seem to appear between your underarm and your bra strap. Is there an actual name for it? You know what I mean though don't you?! This seemed to do the trick, and I actually like the extra coverage. I also added small darts on each bodice cup to give more shape - thank you Mrs C for that tip!
The only other change I made, was to take in the side seams of the skirt by half an inch and the back side seams by about an inch and a half in total. What I should have done was cut a size 14 top and size 12 bottom, but I was too lazy to make a skirt muslin so there you go…. easy to sort out though. I could have fitted the dress a bit tighter all round, but I'm keen to wear it as much as possible, and I think being able to breathe and walk and talk at the same time will make it that bit more wearable.
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| See that gap at the top of the bodice back? That's there because I can't bear to sew a hook and eye on... |
The dress is fully lined with white silk cotton which is such a lovely lining to wear next to the skin. There's actually quite a bit of hand sewing that's gone into this make, mostly sewing the lining to the zip and the bodice lining to the skirt. There was a very interesting discussion on Karen's blog yesterday about hand sewing. I haven't changed my stance, I'm still firmly in the "hate it" camp, but I will say I almost enjoyed hand sewing the lining on this dress. Perhaps the more of it you do, the less devilish it becomes? As a final. flirty touch, I added a white lace trim from Walthamstow market to the hem.
Overall, the pattern was pretty easy to navigate but I probably wouldn't recommend it to an absolute beginner. There's a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with lining and dress fabric and I nearly lost my way a couple of times. It was a joy to make it though, and I'm satisfied that it manages to combine elements of the two Marilyn Monroe dresses that originally inspired me (pics of them in this post).
Weather wise it's not going to get much better in the UK. After the wettest June for over 100 years (!) my poor parents up north are having to brace themselves for a month's worth of rain in one day. Good job I don't live up north any more is all I can say to that… But, this is the sort of dress I will wear in the rain just because I feel like it. It's that fabulous!
Next up, not one, not two, but three instances of unselfish sewing! I know, I can't believe it either! Have a wonderful weekend everybody. x
