Dahlia – My Christmas Dress

 After my frenzy of downloading, sticking and gluing, and sewing which lasted 2 days and resulted in my most favourite dress to date, things slowed down.  Well, not so much as slowed down, things came to a grinding halt.

I was daunted, to say the least, by the hemming of this frock.  I’d not ever hemmed anything with an kick pleat, or any pleat if I come to think of it.

After much googling, I gave up for a few days and made a Coco for my sister instead.  After all, this Dahlia was only intended to be a muslin, hopefully wearable.  I was a little disappointed as it is a bit tight around the tartan band, but, and this a a BIG but, I woke up on Tuesday morning, put on my bestest M&S underwear and tried on my Dahlia.  Whoop Whoop! It zipped straight up without so much as me having to go blue in the face breath in. So that was it, I decided to bite the bullet and get hemming!

I’d read Colette’s New Guide to Sewing Hems, which gave me a few pointers, but I couldn’t find a specific tutorial anywhere for just what I needed.  (I did afterwards, HERE, thanks Sam!).

So, here’s my photos of how I did it, i.e. where i snipped and trimmed.

I measure 1 1/2 inches up and snipped the hemmed. Once I’d done this I restitched over the seam line to where I’d cut to, to give it a bit of extra strength.

Here you can see where I trimmed the bias tape to reduce bulk in the folds.

And here’s where I snipped away at the seam allow, again to reduce bulk and any ridges.

Check this out – It almost makes my want to wear my new frock inside out!!

And before I go ahead and show you the rest of the photo’s from the photoshoot with a not so enthusiastic 12 year old in the garden, here’s the outside of my hem, close up:

Now this looks a crazy close up photo, and don’t my tights looks weird, but this colour is the nearest to any other of what colour my frock actually is. And isn’t the hem invisible!!

So here we are, a few pix of me in the garden:

VERDICT

This is the first time I’ve used a ladies Colette Pattern.  I LOVED making this dress!  It went together so easy, especially as there’s no sleeves to set in.  The instructions were really clear, but maybe not quite beginner.  I’d say more an adventurous beginner!  I mean, growing Dahlia’s in your garden aint for the faint hearted!

I had 2 fitting issues.  My bust measures 1/2 size smaller that my waist and my hips measure 2 1/2 sizes smaller than my waist.  That sound’s terrible, as if I live on doughnuts and full fat coke!  Lets start again.  My hips are 2 sizes smaller than my bust and my waist is a bit bigger than it should be.  Yup, that sounds better!  I’m putting it down to stopping smoking so not overly concerned (8 months and 4 days!!).

So I went with my bust size, no FBA or SBA needed here for these average girls, and graded the hips 2 sizes smaller.  I left the waist same as the bust as its only 1/2 size bigger, but boy does that 1/2 a size make a difference when you’re wondering if you can have a pudding when you can take your next breath!  Next time I WILL make the waist an inch bigger, or loose 10 pounds, depending how long it is before next time comes around.

Adjustment definitely needed here! This looks like before and after photos, but they’re not!

Not sure what’s needed here, advice gratefully accepted.  In the first photo I had pulled the dress down and smoothed it out, but with normal wear it ends up as in picture 2.  I’m thinking once I have bit more space to breath around the middle and the dress has somewhere to drape and not hug, it would improve.  And also maybe take an inch off the length.  Not sure where I’d do that as there’s no lengthen/shorten lines.

Another thing I’d try next time on the sleeved version, is to try and narrow the neckline. It is rather wide, and if I didn’t have my magic underwear anchoring my bra straps down they would be on show to all and sundry. It’s not stretched out (I stay-stitched EVERYTHING) and I did do the gathers the correct length.

PREDICTION:

I imagine I will have 3 more longs sleeved and at least 3 strappy versions by this time next year!

What do you think….Is it a Christmassy Frock?  I’ve worn it out for lunch today, I see it more as a smart/casual day dress than a night time one.  We went to a garden centre which had all it’s Christmas decorations out, it’s gorgeous.  And as you can see, my son was more up for taking photos here and trying to embarrass me!  But the tartan really gives it a Christmassy feel for me.

Here you can see the excess fabric. Just had a thought, is it a sway back adjustment I need?

 And guess what, if you didn’t know, it’s almost the end of Frocktober.  So if I get a move on I should just have time to write a post for the Monthly Stitch!   If  you need some inspiration for your next frock head over to have a look at some fabulous ones for a little inspiration…..Frockober