Dress C- The Sweet Dress Book

After making the tie-neck camisole, as described here, I have been looking longingly at lots of the designs in the fabulous "Sweet Dress Book".  I had a hankering for the soft pleats of dress C.

Easy to throw on, but with enough interest to look nice. It was reasonably quick to put together too.

Here's the twist: I sized it down, so I could make it from a fine soft jersey rather than woven fabric.  I'd had the idea for a while and I'm glad I gave it a go.

I'm trying Oonna's tip for photographing from a low down angle, thus giving the illusion of height.  Not sure it's worked - I still look quite short! I'm also doing my best to stare off enigmatically into the middle distance.

 

The fabric is a thin jersey, light and stretchy. It flows nicely in this dress and I am very pleased with that.

I felt I would be able to tackle this after my recent practice sewing with jersey. I was confident cutting-out, pinning, and sewing the side-seams and the sleeve and dress hems.

Now, I said it was reasonably quick to sew. And I was sailing through, feeling I knew what I was doing; so, I confidently proceeded to the finishing of the neckline with self binding. It looked beyond awful, stretched out of shape and far too thick and lumpy for the delicate fabric.  I should have taken a photo at this stage, but instead I had a break and a beer and then another one!

Later, I delicately cut off the stretched neckline as carefully as I could.  At this point I knew I had to walk away and look afresh at the mess the next day. I was then able to salvage it: I cut thin strips of bonda-web and simply folded the mutilated neckline over, fixing it in place with a hot iron and later securing it with a decorative zigzag.  Phew.

I am so pleased that it is wearable because after two beers on Saturday night I was all for throwing it in the bin. The image of Iain's "Baked Alaska " being thrown in the bin on the Great British Bake Off this week gave me the motivation not to give up, but to finish the dress. (Sorry for the topical UK reference international readers.)

So overall I am really pleased. The dress is a perfect length for me (I shortened it by about 5 inches!) and though the neckline isn't perfect, it will do. I now want to make another and get the neckline right first time.

If you like this pattern, Sarah from the Creative Perfectionist (dress C) has recently made a version of this that I adore.  She made it in red polka dot fabric, and added very clever shirring to give her version a fitted silhouette.