By Hand London Elisalex in French flowers

I first tried to sew an Elisalex during the year I was learning to sew.  I went for the version with sleeves and sized up to the 8/12.  It was awful and I was never able to salvage that dress.

I became more interested when I saw that By Hand London had released a revised version of the dress, with improvements for the sleeveless version and a bit less tulip in the skirt.  Since my original version was on paper, I emailed them and very shortly received the updates as a pdf.

This time I went sleeveless, 6/10.  I removed about 8" of the skirt pattern - 1 entire sheet of paper in length.  The fabric is cotton with a brushed feel, which I got in Paris a few years ago.  It is beautiful fabric although I tend to avoid too much in the way of flowers, and I thought it had stretch and was going to make a Morris with it ages ago, but alas, it doesn't.  So it is an Elisalex instead!

I noticed the irritating mirror pattern across the butt quite awhile after I made this dress, which must be a sign of how much I love it.

The pattern is straightforward.  I had no problems with it.
And then came the real shock - this dress fits.  Like for real fits.  This is amazing.  I made no changes and the straps aren't too long and the bust isn't puffy.

No effort, magic dress.  I'm in love and I already have a version planned involving lemons.  (Who doesn't, these days?)  I hope I will have enough time to make it before I move! (Update: no chance.  See you next year...)
 

My tragic Elisalex is a work in progress

By Hand London and I have some size issues.
My two Anna dresses sadly didn't fit very well - my first size 6 was too small, and the 8 was way too big (but fits my friend Ellie perfectly!  It was fated!)  My third Anna, which I did after the Elisalex, was a size 6 and was also slightly too big.
My Polly top was a size 6 with an inch shaved off the shoulder height.  And it's rather baggy but in an ok way.
When I looked at the final measurements chart for the Elisalex, the 8 seemed pretty reasonable if I accounted for BHL not leaving any ease.

Oops.  Such a wrong call.

Back to the beginning - my fabric is a linen-silk with lurex threads.  It doesn't have that much body, and in fact wasn't my original choice for this dress.  But I love this fabric and I love the idea of a cream coloured shiny Elisalex, I thought I would prefer the tulip skirt with less out-ness, so I went with it even though it's definitely not long sleeve weather. 

I cut off 10 inches from the bottom to start with and sewed it up without other pattern changes.  Once it was together I had two issues - major hugeness, and not being sure whether I needed to give myself more booby room.  I just can't tell if the princess seams are too tight!  I cut one inch out of each side of the centre back.  That fixed the overall too-bigness (and was possibly too much).  Then I started to shave off the princess seams and now I think they are better but they are lumpy.  At this point I still have no clue what to do with them.  The chest needs work. 

I have pinned the hem up about 6 inches.  (On top of the 10 inches I cut off initially!!  Do not forget to measure the length of your Elisalex!)

I would consider this a work in progress - I'm tempted to take off just a bit of the side skirts so it's not so tulipy.  I need help understanding how to make the princess seams fit my chest.  Probably I should have done an FBA.  I am doing what we do when things go wrong...taking it home for my mother to look at...since I'm moving I am in a crazy busy state of trying to get all my remaining projects at least cut out so I don't have to travel with extra fabric!  23 kg luggage limits are the bane of my existence!

On the bright side, my zipper looks awesome.  It's the first invisible zip I've done that looks invisible!  Hurrah!