Boardwalk Dress

I assume most of you also read Kirsty's awesome blog, Top Notch... Do you remember back in July when she posted about her lovely Boardwalk fabric, and then when she sewed up a really elegant Japanese top from it? Well, I had some of the fabric too... but as usual, I took a looong time to decide what to do with mine.

I was initially thinking to make a Vivienne Westwood inspired dress, one with interesting draping and the stripes changing direction on the dress

...but I dillied and dallied over choosing / finding / drafting a pattern with the right draped areas

...and then some of my eBay "research" showed me the insides of one of my inspiration dresses, and OMG it was full of scaffolding to hold the draping in place

...and then the weather changed to summer (well, technically it's spring, but with temps bouncing up to 39C = 102F, temperature records breaking and bush fires slogging us early I'm no longer completely comfortable with the concept of 4 seasons. Ahhh climate change, I do so hate you!).

So in the interests of using my lovely fabric for something, I altered course - a quick pdf download pattern and a quick sew. Enter the Gabby dress from Tessuti Fabrics!

I have to say, it feels a bit weird to be a Gabrielle in a Gabby dress... Thank goodness I didn't botch it up, right?

This dress suits walking, twirling, acting like a loon - all the usual activities. Also guaranteed to be suitable for sedentary pursuits.

The pattern:
Tessuti's Gabby dress. I bought it as a print at home pdf - in fact, I don't think you can get the printed version any more as it's one of Tessuti's earliest patterns. I sewed the patttern in a size S which apparently represents a 10AU (and which for me equates to RTW size 12AU or 8US).

The fabric:
"Boardwalk" jersey in navy and red from Tessuti fabrics - a lovely generous remnant that I snaffled up quick smart.

Cost:
$6 for the pattern, and the fabric (a remnant) cost me $20, so $26 all up! (Needle and thread were already used and from the stash).

Modifications: 
To be honest, I only glanced at the instructions for this dress - it's a really easy make. So my few modifications are more about the way I cut out the dress.

I wanted to lengthen the dress by a couple of inches and couldn't fit those extra inches on my limited fabric length (1.8m), so the both back and front are pieced, with the upper bodice sections cut at a right angle to the rest. I thought it'd be better to have the piecing in a relatively stationary part of the dress, far from the swishy skirt end. Having looked at my photos though, I'm not sure those extra inches were needed - especially as I'm not hemming the skirt! A trim may be imminent.

There's another annoying mistake in the dress, one that I can't easily fix with my scissors... can you guess?

Don't worry, I'm going to tell you what it is - but not till the end :^)

First let's have some close ups - this dress doesn't have any fancy details, but I can at least show you the fabric and the twin needle stitching:

Upper front:

Upper back:

 Sleeve:

Neckline:

Now in my last post I was worrying about fit - and I had some great advice in the comments - but fit is not in the least problematic with this dress. In fact if a relaxed fit appeals to you, I have to tell you this dress can fit from size 6 years up!

And using a small model also allows me to show you my mistake!

I didn't measure as accurately as I should have, so even though the front and back were placed on the fabric in the same direction (the stripes are repeating but directional), the stripes don't line up on the side seams as I meant them to, grrr. Very annoying! At least there's a high swish factor! 

See you soon

- Gabrielle x