Dress No. 1 First Try
I found myself with a little extra time home alone last weekend, so I decided to tackle my next sewing experiment.
After learning from my Shirt No. 1 experience, I realize if that was going to fit me I was going to have to attempt to resize it a bit. So, armed with Amy Beth’s tips from the Fat Squirrel’s upsizing episode I decided to dive in and give it a try.
I measured and marked and connected the dots and managed to grade the pattern up two more sizes pretty successfully (at least I think I did!).
I’m still too nervous to cut into any “good” fabric, so I used some inexpensive quilter’s cotton in a fun rainbow print to do my trial run.
Purchased from JoAnn’s (the description says navy, but it looks black in person to me)
Once I got my new sizes all marked out on the pattern I went ahead and traced it out. I have not committed to either “Team Cut” or “Team Trace” yet, but I am hesitant to cut into my multi-size paper patterns should I wanted to make the same thing again in a different size. I think I am more likely to cut out PDF patterns that I can easily reprint, but continue to trace my paper patterns?
One thing I didn’t think about in advance what that adding the additional sizes meant that the bottom corner of the pattern pieces would fall off the edge of the 45 inch quilter’s cotton. Oops! It honestly wasn’t that big of a problem. I am pretty short, so I just chopped the length off at the biggest size that still fit on the fabric. I usually wear leggings under my dresses anyway, so it’s totally fine if it’s more tunic length than dress length. Alright, here’s the result:
Overall, I am happy with this learning experience and my dress is wearable. However, it does have some fit issues (I wasn’t shocked, this was kind of meant to be a trial run and I wasn’t expecting perfection). I think I could have gone up just 1 size on the top and then 2 on the bottom and have it fit a little better (I also don’t like my clothes to be tight on my mid section, so I might be adding more ease than the pattern intended). The main issue though is that I think I added too much to the height to the shoulders. Amy Beth (aka The Fat Squirrel) touched about this in her episode, but unfortunately I did not remember that until I had cut out and sewn it all together. Basically, I wanted the whole pattern to be wider so it would be looser on me, but I DID NOT need to make it taller (considering I’m short). So, basically what happens when I put it on is that the shoulder seems rest on my shoulders and then I because there’s more material than I need up there I get sagging armpits/gaping/side boob action. Bust darts might help too, but for this simple pattern I think just taking up the shoulder (or cutting them down to a smaller pattern size) should have helped a lot. You can kind of see what I mean in these pictures:
I threw on my Fluted Cardigan (pattern by Cecily Glowik Macdonald) to see how it would look and I think it works. It’s a pretty open front cardigan, I think it would be even more wearable with a cardigan that buttons (to hide my armpits!).
Final Thoughts:
I would definitely sew this again. This try was always meant to be a test run/muslin so that fact that it is wearable at all is a bonus. Next time will be in a non-quilter’s cotton with more drape and I am optimist that it will be great.
Great for practicing basic skills (which I need because I am still not great at keeping consistent seam allowances or even sewing in a straight line). I am getting comfortable with bias tape though!
I DO NOT like drawing my own neckline. I struggled with this on the Shirt No. 1 pattern too. I know it shouldn’t be this challenging, but I cut it and it looks wonky so I trim it and it gets even worse! Next time I might need to look at a similar style neck and just cheat by coping it.
If I am going to blog/share on IG my sewing adventures I am going to need to figure out how to pose for pictures. I don’t know what to do with my face or my hands or basically any part of my body!
(also, we still need to paint the trim in that room!)
