Bring it around now ladies good golly Patch#

(Also for the record, that “Is the bodice too short? Is it just right? I can’t decide!” issue has been dogging me this year but I’ve finally sorted that out once and for all and confirmed that my dresses are fine, I really am just that short-waisted.) Insert look of horror here because, for the record, 90s revival will never be happening with me. But somehow that combined with the fact that I thought the bodice was a little short, so I felt like I was wearing a 90s baby doll dress. It came out a little big, which wouldn’t have bothered me that much as a little more breathing room for summer is always nice. When all was said and done, I must admit: I was kind of meh about this dress, although I’ve since changed my mind. It was definitely one of those “why am I making this way more complicated than necessary?!” sewing moments. So instead, somehow my skirt pieces ended up too wide to gather the excess at each side, so I had to gather it around. When I was comparing pattern pieces I don’t know why I didn’t just use the skirt from Simplicity 1523 (like my Singin’ in the Rain dress), which (like this pattern) is gathered at each side, above the pocket. I could have worked out another way to do it, but I wasn’t crazy about it to begin with so at that point I just left it out. It literally was like a 1″ flap that was only tacked at the waist and hem. I knew I wanted to omit the faux placket on the front, because when I looked at the instructions carefully, I realized it wasn’t sewn down. I must admit I winged the skirt a bit and it didn’t quite work out like I expected. A lump above your butt, under a sweater? No thanks. But I ditched the slightly dropped waist because I just don’t like them, and ditched the waist ties at the back while I was at it, because that limits the wearability to seasons I’m not wearing a cardigan. I kept the neckline and shirtwaist front (although I omitted the buttonholes because they’re inoperable anyway, so why fuss with them?). (And yes I’ve been asked so many times, I will have to address a tutorial on drafting this change, hopefully in late spring/early summer!) (Cheeky, I know.) I changed the sleeves for the first version because we’ve already established that I much, much prefer cut-on sleeves on dresses. I knew going into it that I might want to make some changes to the final pattern, but not enough that I could be bothered to do a real muslin.

Bring it around now ladies good golly Patch#

It’s a seriously worn and tattered envelope, but a very cute dress! A scoop neck and shirtwaist bodice, back waist ties, two sleeve options, patch pockets and a faux placket down the front of the skirt.

This dress is actually a wearable muslin of my Sew for Victory dress, using McCall 6116, a pattern from 1945. But I liked the idea of having a tradition of sewing myself a dress specifically for my birthday, so hey, as of the second year in a row, it’s now a tradition! Ironically it was the only dress I sewed last year and this year I’m a dressmaking machine. Last year, I sewed a wrap dress for my birthday.

I have a fabulous gift from Mel waiting for me to open later (yes, I already know what it is). We’re taking a trip to Dublin at the end of the month and I just can’t wait. Spring is finally here (omg, a few things are even blooming and the grass is slowly turning from brown back to green!).