Thursday, April 8, 2010

Pattern Review of Engagement Dress




A massive thank you the Emily Sews for giving me the confidence to do this pattern. Here's my pattern review:

Pattern Description:
Lined, flared, floor length dress (shaped hemline), close-fitting at bust, has back zipper, neck ruffle and bodice front extending to form neckline drape. Gathered drape is sewn over empire waist seam.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, I took the advice from http://emilysews.blogspot.com/2008/06/pattern-review-saffron-dress-aka-vogue.html and trusted the instructions and they worked perfectly.

Fabric Used:
Silk Chiffon for the outer portion of the dress, Double Georgette for the lining both from Spotlight.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
None, except for the length which I totally hemmed too short because I couldn’t cut straight.

I also only used one thickness of lining for the skirt, tested that it wasn’t see through first, because the bodice has so much material and I needed it for a 35 degree outside party. Some

Construction details:
French seams are lovely but you have to be sure you’re not going to make size alterations. I was super doooooper lucky in that I cut out a 12 and it fit me to the millimetre. There was some sweating when I was putting the zip in as to whether it was going to fit but with a slight breath in I could do it up comfortably.

I am not good with lining up zips at the best of time and really stuffed up the back on this one. I also had trouble using binding for the seam of the zip because there was so many layers of material and I knew that it was going to be a tight fit so I overlocked it instead, which ruined the look of the inside of the garment but made it a hell of a lot easier.

Also they ask you to sew the back seam from hem to where the zip will go in really early on and because I stuffed up the zip I had to re-do this part so next time I would leave this until the zipper was in.





Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I love it. I would totally sew it again; I think it could be a nice dress without the ruffles too.

I (of course) left it to the last minute and a spent 3 solid days a week before the party sewing it but it came together beautifully, logically and easily. Gave me the confidence that I am an intermediate sewer!

Would recommend it to others?
Definitely, it fits lovely and I hand sewed my ruffles so I wasn’t totally exposed!

Conclusion:
If I hadn’t of cut it a bit short or screwed up the back it would be perfect. I really love the colour I picked and I’m really surprised that I was able to pull it off. I do need to focus on the finer more technical points of sewing and taking the time to do things properly, like zips and bias binding.


The party was ace fun too, it went all afternoon and all night, we had tonnes of people drive 3 1/2 hours from Melbs for it and lots of family and I just had the best time.


Some of the loveliest girls in the whole wide world! (Yep, dress waaaay too short!)



Mum pulled out the cake waaay to late, MrJPB and me were in silly mode.

Yay my first pattern review! Let me know if you think it was helpful!

xx

4 comments:

Veronica Darling... said...

Congratulations on your dress AND your engagement party! It's a beautiful colour on you!

EmilySews said...

That's so sweet of you to thank ME for giving you the courage! It turned out great, and I'm glad my little blog could be of some use to someone else. Congratulations!

Emma said...

Oh, how I wish I had listened to your advice about the zip! I also ended up redoing the back seam of the skirt!

Thanks so much for writing the review though - it was so helpful!

Unknown said...

I was wondering if I could ask you for help on this pattern. I'm
Having trouble with step nine.
9. Pin bodice front to bodice back at neck edge.

I'm not sure i understand what part of the front bodice is supposed to be pinned to the neck edge.

I would appreciate your help. My email is sdsambrano@gmail.com