My Yellow Dress is Just All Wrong

This week I finished a dress. Frankly, it's a disappointment!

This is a fake smile.

I made so many mistakes that I nearly made this post a "how not to" tutorial... but then I figured no, everyone makes mistakes.  But I made so many mistakes... OK, I accept I have puckering in my curved hem, but why do I even have puckering on the straight side seams - how did I do that????

Yes, that look expresses how I really feel about it. That's not a fake smile.

 There are a few details I'm happy with - like the nicely coordinated vintage metal invisible zip:

and the alignment of the side seams at the waist:

The top stitching isn't messy either.

But the mistakes!!!!!

Like fabric choice... oops. The stuff I bought is lovely but too heavy for a summery dress.

And considering the directional print, I didn't really buy enough for a dress!  Which leads to cutting out... oops again. What's grainline mean again?

I also mixed together two patterns without confirming their fit (my size has changed lately) or whether they would fit together. Double oops! Come ON, d'oh!

this skirt

this top, sleeves OFF, zip shifted to the side, peplum OFF

Vintage Vogue 8811 (a 1950s reissue, in vintage sizing) for the skirt + Vogue 8815 for the bodice (a current pattern, in modern-but-running-smaller-than-Vogue-designer-pattern sizing) - funnily enough they don't line up at the waist seam. So (oooooops) I added width to the bodice with narrow strips of fabric (have you ever heard of such a stupid idea?). And then the bodice was too big so I extended the front waist darts into princess seams to the shoulder - but it still doesn't fit nicely (can you believe it? after two clever ideas like that?).

***

So in the end it's a dress, but it's a let down. A dress that nearly became a skirt, then went back to being a dress - and that may yet become cushions.

Next up I'm working on a Sandra Betzina pencil skirt and one of the new Vogue pattern dresses. It's early days but I haven't done anything crazy with them yet :-).