I had it in my head that I would get to Bendigo to see the Marimekko exhibition and photograph this dress with that
awesome gallery backdrop, but I'm not that good a blogger, so you get my dirty, marked wall instead.
Where do we start? With the flower-tits issue? the pattern? the modifications? the fabric?....
Pattern placement issues first, yeah? This super vintage fabric which came in the big haul from my friend's mum was narrow, and was only just enough for the dress so long as I did not consider the print. So I didn't :)
Given that my boobs are not quite so widely placed or lopsided as those flower centres I'm calling the flower-tits issue a non event. It could be better, but it's not as disastrous as it could have been either. (wait 'til you see the back though, I got a bullseye there!)
Moving on....
The pattern: It's the
Lisette for Butterick B6169. The one where everybody has made the Moto Jacket and very few have made the dress.
I liked the idea of the longer length although I was unsure about the high/low hemline. I cut a size 14 adding 1" in length at the waistline. The pattern has full length princess style seam lines front and back and the extra length gave me the perfect butt seam lines but the point where the ties attached had to be moved back up by an inch as they were too low to be comfortable.
So what happened to that long skirt and strongly shaped hemline? It got lopped!
Here's the phone photo of the dress when I first made it and just wasn't feeling the love:
My grumpy feelings towards the dress at that point may also have been to do with the neck binding. The pattern had me cut a wide bias strip, fold it in half lengthwise, attach the raw edges to the neckline then turn the folded edge to the inside to make a facing.
For some reason this fabric has NO stretch on the bias. It just warped and twisted but gave nothing in terms of smooth length. The fabric has a strange, almost seersucker kind of texture. I guess there is something about the weave that renders it completely immune to bias stretch. Of course I had trimmed my neckline seam allowance to almost nothing before I discovered that. I took the bias facing off and tried the same technique with a navy cotton bias facing. I still couldn't get enough stretch for a smooth, unpuckered neckline. To avoid another unpicking session I simply cut that bias down to half the width and managed to get a narrow bias facing to work adequately.
Interestingly, I saw a version of this pattern made up in a lovely linen at
The Cloth Shop and it looked fantastic - but I did note that the neckline had been finished with the bias wrapping around the neck as a bias edge finish rather than a turned under facing. Do your own thing may be the final advice on that point.
It's barely noticeable but my lopped hemline does still have a very slight curve across the front and a fractionally lower back hem. It's a subtle nod to the original pattern, but as much as I could handle when it came to an uneven hem. I guess it's not my thing after all.
Those nice seam lines on the front neatly hide some inseam pockets. Go to love pockets!
The yoke and the gathers remind me of the
Chai Tee and I think this dress made up in a knit and fitted would be awesome. I imagine it could be cut as is and then just pin those back seam lines to get a nice, snug fit through the back.
As it is, there is lots of room in the back and so the ties are a necessity to stop it billowing out behind. But in a woven fabric (with no give at all remember!) that's essential to allow ease of movement.
The only other modification I made was due to fabric limitations, and a tip from Sewing Pattern Review: The ties are meant to be double layered, sewn right sides together then turned out. The reviews suggested that in any fabric other than a very light weight one, the ties would end up a bit stiff and unwieldy. I had limited fabric anyway, and with that warning in mind I made them single layer and just did a narrow hem all around the edges.
While I usually shy away from prints I really like the Marimekko vibe of these big flowers and the simple colour scheme. The dress has turned out to be perfectly comfortable and I'm certainly planning on packing it for our end of summer beach holiday in April.
I just have to remember to never wear it to a deer or rabbit farm lest I startle all the animals with my turned up white tail!
Details:
Pattern: Lisette B6169
Size: 14
Fabric: Vintage mystery stuff from @topbikephysio's mum
Modifications: 1" torso length, single thickness ties, lopped about 8-10 inches off the hem, narrower neck facing
