Green Eyelet Peony Dress…..with modications

Another finished garment!  I bet you thought this was turning into a non-sewing blog 😉  Well, I’ve got a doozy for you- I’ve been hard at work on for the past few weeks on this dress and I do believe the hard work has paid off!

Ta-Da!

This is the third Peony dress I’ve made [Wow, I really do need to branch out ] and I’m pretty sure it is destined to become a favorite!

The original plan was to finish it early in the week… but things both good and bad conspired against me!

However, after many episodes of Supernatural, I finally finished it Friday night and promptly wore it to our local Farmer’s Market Saturday morning.

The fabric is a cotton eyelet I got from Jo-Ann’s…..last year [cue sad trombone] 😦   I underlined/lined it with a navy quilting cotton. In retrospect that was probably a mistake, ’cause that bitch was HOT.  If I was going to do it over again….which I’m not… I’d use something lighter and more breathable.  Otherwise, I love the fabric and color combo- I have come to realize that truly my favorite colors are navy and [insert contrast color here].

This marks my first official attempt at a Full Bust Adjustment….and I think it worked out pretty well in the end.  I really relied on this tutorial to help with the process.  I added probably about an inch or so, but when I tried on the muslin it was still too tight!  After much fretting (and cursing, let’s not forget the cursing) at the thought having to start from scratch I realized it was only tight right smack in the center of the bodice.  So, I threw caution into the wind and just cut straight up the middle and added an inch of scrap fabric….and it was perfect!!  I didn’t even have to re-draw the pattern piece, I just made a note to add 1/2 inch when cutting on the fold!  …she said very pleased with herself 😀

I made other adjustments, as well- I lowered the neckline (which was very nerve racking as I did it after I had cut out and partially sewn the bodice!) and used a bias tape finish instead of the facings.  I opted not to line the sleeves and used my double thread trick to topstitch the neckline and sleeve hem.

I used left over flat bias tape from the my mustard Ginger skirt to add the contrast at the waist.  However, I did not follow the directions from the tutorial and it shows….. not enough to go back and fix it mind you!  But the trim is not as even, prominent and noticeable as on the Ginger skirt.  I was suppose to cut 3/8 inch from the “waistband”, in this case bodice, but I was paranoid about making the waist too short so I skipped it.  It also doesn’t line up in the back, but I care even less about that!

The skirt is were I took most of my…liberties…with the pattern- in that I chucked the slightly gathered A-line skirt altogether and went with a full pleated skirt!  This turned out to be a bitch and a half for many reasons.  First, I used this tutorial for the skirt.  It’s a great tutorial, but requires A LOT of math…. and I don’t math.  Secondly, because of the direction of the print and seam matching I had to cut 2 pieces (technically three ’cause the second piece was then cut in half again) instead of one super long piece.  So, after first cutting it wrong and fucking it up what good, the husband was called in to math for me   I can do many things extremely well, but math isn’t one of them!  [Side note: I must have bought a shit ton of fabric, because even after basically having to re-cut the skirt I have enough leftover for a couple matching purses!]  In the end I still ended up with a funny short pleat in the center back where the zipper went in (I don’t think we accounted for the seam allowance around the zipper), but it doesn’t really bother me.

Overall, I am very pleased with my new dress.  I’m sure it will become a staple, although we’ll see how it does mid-July with that quilting cotton lining.

I’ve already started planning my next projects…a summer Zinnia skirt, a knit dress and some gifts for a friends baby shower!  So, hopefully it won’t be so long till the next sewing post 😉