Good evening everyone,
I hope everyone is enjoying this lovely weekend. It
has been sunny and the air is crisp. I love this time of
year.
Yesterday afternoon I was finally able to get some photos
of me wearing my first dress of the fall season. It's becoming more and
more difficult these days to get photos of me wearing my newly sewn garments. My
daughter is my photographer, and our schedules don't always allow for photo
shoots. I'm lucky when our schedules do.
I love my new pony print dress. Early summer, I saw
this photo of Vivica A. Fox on Instagram wearing a cute little dress.
Her outfit inspired me to make this dress. Of course, Ms. Fox's
dress is a whole lot sexier than my version. Lol. So, let me start
with my review of the process of constructing my inspiration dress.
Pattern Description: Burda's
description is just as poor as their instructions at times. Lol. So, I'll
give my little two cents of a description. A shift dress with cut-on
sleeves (long or short). It has a high scoop neck. The dress has a
center back seam with invisible zipper. View A has a slit and belt.
This pattern is rated super easy.
Pattern Sizing: 8 to 18. I used 16 with modifications.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were
done sewing with it? The silhouette looked like the dress. I did
make several changes so that it looked more like the inspiration dress.
Were the instructions easy to follow? This pattern is exactly
as stated, "super easy." And the instructions were easy to
follow.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I have
several likes and only one dislike. First the likes.
Likes -
- The silhouette
was perfect for the inspiration dress.
- The dress
pattern was only five pattern pieces and a quick sew.
- The pattern is
versatile. Once I finished my dress, I started dreaming about other
projects and uses for the patter. I plan to make a tunic and
top.
- All the design
changes that I added to make this dress special.
Dislikes
-
- The scoop neck
is a little too wide for me. I will adjust it for the next project.
Fabric Used: This year I purchased a lot of fabric from Hobby
Lobby. They have a 40% off sale nearly every other week. Anyway, My
fabric is a polyester pony print fabric that has the hand of faux suede.
I pre-washed and dried it before I cut out my dress.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made: Here's is
where the review gets lengthy. I made several changes. But here
again, I didn't make a FBA, swayback, or broad shoulder adjustment. Below
is what I did change:
- Center Front
Seam - The easiest change was to add the center front seam. All was
needed was to add seam allowance instead of cutting on the fold.
- Re-Draft Front
Facing - The front facing was extended and also has a center front
seam. After I tried the dress on with the belt, I realized that the
front facing was just a little too long. This is easily corrected.
- Eyelets were
added to the front of the dress to copy the design of the inspiration
dress.
- Drawstring was
added to the front of the dress.
Application
Process - Eyelets
Every
time I add buttonholes, eyelets, snaps, etc., to any finished garment, my hands
get a little sweaty. Lol I get nervous. I’m scared of ruining the
entire project. So I must do a test before I do anything.
1. Test
applying an eyelet on a piece of scrap fabric.
2. Measure
the length of the area where the eyelets will be applied. Determine the
distance between each eyelet based on the length and number of eyelets to be
applied.
3. Mark the
placement for each on both sides.
4. Punch
the holes.
5. Carefully,
install each eyelet as directed.
6. All
done.
|
Dress Belted |
Would
you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes and
yes. I will sew this pattern again. This is a good pattern for
beginners as well as other level sewists.
Conclusion: I'm really happy with how my dress turned out.
Though it isn't exactly like the inspiration dress, it is how I envisioned it
for my life style. The dress was very easy to sew and I got exactly what
I wanted out of this project.
Happy
Sewing!
C