Sewing a Dress

Hello Lovelies, 

here is another of my VERY occasional dressmaking posts . In fact it's only the second such post. 

Last year I tried dressmaking after a looooog gap ( about twenty years! ) I set out to make a dress, but the pattern was rather tricky and instead I made a skirt. I was pleased with how it turned out and blogged about it HERE

This time I wanted to finally make a dress.  I made sure the pattern was simple and used some fabric from my stash in case of disasters. The fabric is a bit thick for a summer dress, but has a nice drape so I hoped it would be O.K...............

Dress pattern sizes are different from ready made clothes, so do be aware of this and check the size guide on your pattern.
According to the size guide my top half  is a size 12 and bottom half a size 14...........

I pondered what to do about this for a while and decided to cut the top out along the size 12 lines, then gradually cross over to the size 14 below the waist............

I find it's worth ironing the crumpled tissue paper pattern pieces ( on the lowest setting ) .........

I was very glad there were no cameras watching me as I worked. I like to take my time and my sewing skills are so rusty I wouldn't get very far in the amount the Sewing Bee contestants get.........

When I was younger I was always in such a rush to complete a garment, I would skip stages like the tacking. But I did end up with some rather mixed results. I expect that's why I only got a CSE grade 2 in Needlework at school :0)

I did enjoy the process of sewing this dress, gradually working through all the various stages and following Jo's great advice to "Just take your time".....yes there's no rush, you are doing this for pleasure Jacquie.

Here I'm tacking the sleeves into the armhole before machine sewing.

And here is my finished dress..........Ta-Dah..........

The neck is the bit I'm most proud of. Actually it was quite easy to do and I love the finished effect.......

This dress has no zip ( hurray ) Its a simple "pull it over your head" style....the sort of dress I like to wear.

I chose a pretty white flower button from my stash to close the back of neck opening........

Here is how the neckline looks on, It's actually a little large but I still love it..........

Please excuse the odd selfie pictures, there was nobody else at home to act as photographer.

The back of neck was rather gappy so I took the time to unpick the back seam and remove some fabric. I didn't enjoy that bit, but in the end I think it was worth the effort.......

The back is great, with its clever gathering that was really easy to do. I simply stitched along some stretched elastic. When you release the stretch you get great gathers.

But this is the front........Ummmm........it does remind me of a maternity frock.........

I'm sure this is because of the thickish fabric. I kind of guessed this might be a  problem so I made a simple belt just in-case...........

That's better :0)

If I make another dress using this pattern I'll choose a thinner fabric and add more flare to the skirt, but otherwise I was really happy with this pattern. It was easy to follow with no difficult  techniques and I ended up with a dress that I'll be happy to wear.

Jacquie x

p.s. Don't forget The Great British Sewing Bee is on telly at
 8pm BBC 2 tonight.

p.p.s My crochet hanger was made using THIS pattern, in case you were wondering.