MissBossy Patterns was a little indecisive about her choice, and I did make the GuyLaRoche jacket that I think that she wanted, but just in case I had been
mistaken, and it was genuinely a dead heat, I thought I’d better do the Butterick
dress too.
After all, practically
everyone else on the internet has made this dress.
I used a cotton print that I had got off trade-me,
and made my own bias binding with the machine that Mum got me for Christmas. The more I use that machine, the more I
appreciate how easy it makes binding.
The pattern is really simple! Just a few pieces which fitted together
really easily. I ditch stitched the
binding down by hand, which took a while, but wasn’t really arduous; I didn’t
trust my topstitching skills and it does look quite clean.
As almost everyone has commented, there is a risk
of a bit of bra showing under the arms, and I’m not 100% sure about the
neckline on me. It is a really comfortable
dress, but NOT cycle friendly. The back
skirt, which is tied up at the front, quickly blows back, and the front skirt,
which has no centre back seam to secure it, works its way forward. Unchecked there
would be vast gaps with no dress at all!
I discovered this when I decided to cycle into town, wearing this dress,
to meet with the Auckland sewers, organised by Penny (Welcome back Penny).
It was great to meet up with other sewers,
and a quick coffee soon spread out to three hours. We’re all jealous of the Wellington group and
their collective photo shoots, so hopefully we can do something similar up here
soon.
I'm in the process of making this dress for myself. I have made this dress for my friend. She has curves to kill for, so I did a muslin to ensure fit. She had some of the same issues in the skirt and neckline as well. For her I widened the scoop in the neck, narrowed the "sleeve" and used buttonhole elastic to secure the front panel in the back instead of the button and loop. This allowed for more movement without fear of flashing.
ReplyDeleteHave you hear about pettipants? A lot of vintage sewers who cycle make these adorable "shorts" to wear under their dresses while they cycle. The pattern is pretty straight forward and quick to make!
Pettipants is a new one on me. Sounds as though it could be a usefull addition.
ReplyDeletelol. i was looking at this dress in Spotlight toay, and thought it looked awesome. obviously i'm late to the party
ReplyDeleteOnly slightly later than me! :)
DeleteI made this dress last year and had issues with it sliding around and not wanting to sit where it was supposed to. Yours looks like it turned out great - really cute :D
ReplyDeleteIt certainly slides around when I'm cycling!
ReplyDelete