This dress caught my interest when I first discovered Cali Faye's patterns. I pondered it at length and was so excited to make it! I went through a variety of fabrics in my head. It seemed to have a lot of plusses - cool orientation of the fabric, knit, interesting shape, etc - this is close to the sort of thing I often cave in and buy so I pinned a lot of hopes on it.
As I started to feel the stress of another impending move, I cut out any plans for a muslin and inspected the pattern pictures closely. The model in the photos has basically the same measurements as I do and is in a size S. Based on the fact that I didn't want the dress too loose, I went for an XS instead.
Merino jersey: from The Fabric Store, this time from Dunedin just because I happened to be there visiting a friend.
I also changed the neck binding as I didn't really like the idea of applying the binding as thought it's a woven - after all I hate doing woven bindings and that's part of why I like knits! I did a foldover knit binding like from the Megan Nielsen Briar - and initially I thought I had done it too tight and ruined the dress and my mood was low. But I persisted.
I put in so much work to get the pockets in. The instructions are ridiculous here. I think usually you attach the pocket to the front and back of the skirt, with right sides together, and sew with a small seam allowance. Then you flip the pocket out and align the front and back, and sew the entire thing together, turning nicely at the corners. That way you don't have any funny gaps all over the place.
The instructions here had you sew the pockets separately from the skirt, and left all those gaps where things didn't line up the first time around. Luckily knits are forgiving and all those gaps were closed eventually....
And then I tried on my dress and was in horrors, because those awful, hideous pockets ruin the dress! They add width directly over my hips and are too low to be useful. It took me a week with my Gardenia in the time-out pile before I picked it up and realised all I had to do was take off the pockets and the dress would be fine.
I did that. And it was. I like it now!
As I started to feel the stress of another impending move, I cut out any plans for a muslin and inspected the pattern pictures closely. The model in the photos has basically the same measurements as I do and is in a size S. Based on the fact that I didn't want the dress too loose, I went for an XS instead.
Merino jersey: from The Fabric Store, this time from Dunedin just because I happened to be there visiting a friend.
I also changed the neck binding as I didn't really like the idea of applying the binding as thought it's a woven - after all I hate doing woven bindings and that's part of why I like knits! I did a foldover knit binding like from the Megan Nielsen Briar - and initially I thought I had done it too tight and ruined the dress and my mood was low. But I persisted.
I put in so much work to get the pockets in. The instructions are ridiculous here. I think usually you attach the pocket to the front and back of the skirt, with right sides together, and sew with a small seam allowance. Then you flip the pocket out and align the front and back, and sew the entire thing together, turning nicely at the corners. That way you don't have any funny gaps all over the place.
The instructions here had you sew the pockets separately from the skirt, and left all those gaps where things didn't line up the first time around. Luckily knits are forgiving and all those gaps were closed eventually....
And then I tried on my dress and was in horrors, because those awful, hideous pockets ruin the dress! They add width directly over my hips and are too low to be useful. It took me a week with my Gardenia in the time-out pile before I picked it up and realised all I had to do was take off the pockets and the dress would be fine.
 |
| Sry forgot to iron hem |
I did that. And it was. I like it now!
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