The 1994 Dress

So today I have pictures of last weeks finished project, I still have not been able to wear this dress 'for real' due to the craptastic weather, so these are self taken indoor shots (read that as rubbish! ohh and please ignore my none matching tights)

Anyway the pattern:

Now, I know you are probably looking at this and wondering just how drunk I was when I bought this, but honestly I saw potential, and potential there was after a couple of pattern adjustments...

It's a bit difficult to see in the photo because I drew on my adjustments in pencil but I added some length to the front, a waist dart, raised the armpit and added bust/armpit dart then I added a little bit more width to the shoulder seam.

anyway after all that faff the dress ended up looking like this -

So, as you can see it looks nothing like the pattern envelope. In addition to the bodice adjustments, I also added a double layer to the peter pan collar, omitted the sleeves and waist tie, changed the gathers to pleats and added a zipper in the side so I didn't need to make all those buttonholes.

Gratuitous close up of the buttons and adorable print (shh don't mention the chalk lines)

and the insides, all finished with the overlocker and bias tape. I made matching bias tape for the arm's as I didn't have enough of the white and I didn't want to use a different colour as i was worried it would show through.

Do you see that bit of selvedge on the right there which looks like an excessive amount of seam allowance, its not, its a facing for the lapped zipper I put in after the pull broke on the amazing perfectly matching METAL TOOTHED invisible zipper. The zipper that's in there now is less amazing, but it's functional.

In conclusion, I am more or less happy with this make, I'm not sure how flattering it is to me as its a bit loose around the waist, but then again that's what makes it comfortable. This dress has also sparked a longing for a vast array of metal invisible zippers and unfortunately I think these will probably be quite difficult to acquire.

Til next time internets!