In early February I suddenly needed to prolong summer by making a backless ruffled sundress...and conveniently I had just the pattern! This wonder was printed in NZ and says it is misses size 12, with a bust of 34".
I haven't sewn any big 4 patterns in ages! I just kind of hoped this size would fit...forgetting that you are meant to size down from the envelope not size up. My bust is in the 32-33 range.
I made this dress in the short version, with a ruffle. There was no ruffle length for the short version so I basically made it as long as I had fabric for. I also made the ruffle less high because I thought it would overwhelm the short dress at the current length - I did about 2/3 of that length. I guess this all means I'm over my hatred of gathering. I also learned just how much you need to gather a thing to make it look good - in my opinion the ruffle would be better if I could have made it longer and gather it more.
The bodice was self lined after you apply the ruffle, and then there are more gathers under the bust! The waistband is two layers, and the skirt is a true wrap skirt, with the right side going under the left. It felt like it took forever but that's just because I had a bunch of couchsurfers so I wasn't sewing all the time.
My fabric is a loom woven raw silk from Nepal that I brought back. It has a lot of texture because of the handmade nature of the fabric, but overall I took that into account and didn't have trouble gathering it, though it became very dense in the gathers. It is generally well behaved and pressed well. I hand washed it for prewashing, which is what I do with all fragile silk. I tend to machine wash other silks like charmeuse that I think can handle it, as it makes an easier to care for final garment - I generally hand wash those garments but I like the security of knowing they can tolerate a machine wash.
The bodice looked pretty small to start with so I couldn't judge by that - but the final product is just way too big. There's no one spot - the bodice has too much fabric, and in my pictures I have the waistband wrapped really tightly to keep everything in place. I just feel overwhelmed by this dress. Luckily I have a friend who is taller than me and just a bit bigger everywhere and who doesn't feel a need to wear a bra, so she has won a new dress, yay!!
I haven't sewn any big 4 patterns in ages! I just kind of hoped this size would fit...forgetting that you are meant to size down from the envelope not size up. My bust is in the 32-33 range.
I made this dress in the short version, with a ruffle. There was no ruffle length for the short version so I basically made it as long as I had fabric for. I also made the ruffle less high because I thought it would overwhelm the short dress at the current length - I did about 2/3 of that length. I guess this all means I'm over my hatred of gathering. I also learned just how much you need to gather a thing to make it look good - in my opinion the ruffle would be better if I could have made it longer and gather it more.
The bodice was self lined after you apply the ruffle, and then there are more gathers under the bust! The waistband is two layers, and the skirt is a true wrap skirt, with the right side going under the left. It felt like it took forever but that's just because I had a bunch of couchsurfers so I wasn't sewing all the time.
My fabric is a loom woven raw silk from Nepal that I brought back. It has a lot of texture because of the handmade nature of the fabric, but overall I took that into account and didn't have trouble gathering it, though it became very dense in the gathers. It is generally well behaved and pressed well. I hand washed it for prewashing, which is what I do with all fragile silk. I tend to machine wash other silks like charmeuse that I think can handle it, as it makes an easier to care for final garment - I generally hand wash those garments but I like the security of knowing they can tolerate a machine wash.
The bodice looked pretty small to start with so I couldn't judge by that - but the final product is just way too big. There's no one spot - the bodice has too much fabric, and in my pictures I have the waistband wrapped really tightly to keep everything in place. I just feel overwhelmed by this dress. Luckily I have a friend who is taller than me and just a bit bigger everywhere and who doesn't feel a need to wear a bra, so she has won a new dress, yay!!
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