Wedding Guest Dress

I posted a little while ago about the very special wedding sewing that I did earlier in the summer and this is the story of the dress that I wore to that wedding.

I was looking for a wrap style dress possibly with ruffles and I found the exact dress in the Style Arc Giselle.  However, when I looked at the line drawing I decided that it looked quite simple and that I could recreate it from the bodice block that I have drawn up in my pattern cutting class.

This obviously wasn't as simple as I thought it would be. I converted my bodice and skirt blocks into a wrap versions, drafted the circular ruffle, made up a toile and it was a disaster! The bones of it were there, but there was waaay too much fabric in the bodice and I couldn't work out why. I tried moving darts and taking it in, but it was turning into a bit of a dogs dinner.

For some reason I decided to check my measurements against the ones I had taken for my block 5 years ago and whilst I am roughly the same weight and size, my measurements were noticeably different, which accounted for the excess fabric in the toile. I decided to redraft my bodice block, so that I could then redraft the wrap dress. The redraft worked well and I made a second toile but it still didn't fit right.

At this point I was beginning to run out of time, so I gave in and bought the PDF of the Giselle.  I compared the Giselle pattern pieces to mine and could see immediately what I had done wrong on the second toile - I had forgotten to true up the waist when I had moved a dart. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos of any of this.

The fabric I used is viscose and it is lovely and floaty.  I got the fabric from Geoff Rosenberg of Stitch Fabrics, off his remnant table at one of his Trumpington Village hall sales. I made a size 10 using the Style Arc pattern  and it fitted really well. The instructions are pretty minimal, but having used Burdastyle magazine patterns in the past it was quite straight forward!  I did struggle getting the waist tie on to the the dress neatly, but I think I mis-read something earlier in the construction. I manged to bodge it pretty well and you can't see that bit of the dress when it is being worn.When I was trying the dress on just before it was finished, I realised that the skirt was slightly see-through at the back, such that you could see the colour and shape of my underwear. I very quickly cut a lining out of some silk and just lined the back of the skirt by hand stitching it to the waistline and down the side seams.

I have a few pictures of the construction of the actual dress:

Here I was finishing the edges of the ruffle/flounce.  I tried using a rolled hem foot on a scrap of fabric but didn't get on very well, so I overlocked the edges, folded over the edge and  sewed a very narrow hem

 There was a lot of gathering on the ruffle for the skirt portion of the dress

 Turning rouleau tubes for the waist ties

Checking out the finished dress

back view

And finally, a more relaxed vibe at Camp Workroom Social, waiting for the fashion show:

So in the end a very successful make. I was a little disappointed that I hadn't persevered with the drafting when I realised how close I had got with my version, but the finished dress and how I felt wearing it, wiped away that disappointment!

FO: The 'Blue Marl' collection

As ever I have tonnes of catching up to do.  I have done lots of sewing over the last couple of months, but just haven't felt like writing about anything!

I have been spurred on to get writing again by going to a meet-up of Cambridge sewists last Saturday. It was orgnised by Susie of Susie Sews blog and I met a bunch of lovely ladies. We had coffee (and cake) a fabric swap (where I got rid of a piece and came home with 2 more) and a pattern swap.  There was an element of shopping later, but I had one of my girls with me and we had other things to do so we left them to it. We have shared our social media details so I am looking forward to reading some new blogs soon. I subsequently realised that I hadn't posted since February, hence the flurry of posts that will be coming up.

This fabric was bought from Geoff Rosenberg at his Trumpington Village Hall sale in November of last year.  I found it in the remnant corner and asked Geoff how much it was - he said it was ex-Paul Smith fabric and I could have it for (I think) £8 for the whole piece. Once I got it home I realised that I had 4 metres length of 2 metres wide! What a bargain!!!

So, what have I made? First off I made a little skater skirt for Middlest, which I gave to her for Christmas.  We had bought one earlier in the year which I consider is getting a bit short but others wise fits ok. I used the bought skirt as pattern and lengthened it. I basically sewed up the skirt pieces, then attached the skirt to some black 2" elastic and bingo - a skirt. It was inevitably, deemed too long, but it has been worn several times and she is constantly growing at the moment.

Next up was a Lady Skater dress for Eldest.  Again, we had bought a skater dress, which appeared to be almost identical to the Lady Skater, but with some added detail. I got Eldest to try on the Lady Skater that I had made for myself a couple of years ago to work out what size to cut for her. I ended up cutting out the same size as mine, but I had not realised that the blue fabric didn't have quite the stretch that the ponte of my dress had. I ended up sewing the side seams and armscyes at the minimal seam allowance I could get away with, which did ease the fit a little. It has been worn more than once so counts as a success.

 At the same time that I cut out Eldest's dress, I cut out a pair of True Bias Hudson Pants for me.  If you follow me on IG you will have seen that I managed to cut both of those out and still have 1m 20cm left. I am hoping to squeeze a top out of what is left, but I am not sure which yet - I would like another cowl neck Renfrew, but even with the width of the fabric I don't think I have enough for that.

Details on the hanger

I have made the Hudsons before and decided on a couple of tweaks when I made these. I lengthened the rise front and back, made the pocket bags correspondingly bigger and lengthened the leg a little for some extra ruching at the cuff.  I had meant to reduce the height of the cuff but completely forgot, so I some times fold it up inside the leg when I am wearing them.  Because of the minimal stretch in this fabric the cuffs are a bit tight and I need to be careful, particularly when I am taking them off

on me!

Now, what to make with the last metre?!