The Red Wren

My friend Tam held a fancy pants tea party this weekend. I wanted to make a dress to wear and as usual left it to the last minute and whipped it up the night before. It turned out  for the event, but if I were to wear it again I’d make more adjustments.

Pattern:

New Look #6557 bodice D (the blue one)

Variations:

• straps instead of a halter
• completely different skirt – I wanted a 50’s looks skirt therefore improvised with a wide piece of fabric with lots of gathering

Adjustments:

• I added about ten cm of length to the bust piece so it wasn’t indecent and added a few cm’s to the width. I overestimated though and ended up making a whole pile of adjustments (my bodice has darts!) so I’d be more careful with that next time.
• I shortened the bodice so the skirt started at my waist.

Time to make:

3 hours

The Verdict:

I like this pattern. I’ve made the red/white dress before in a navy and red cherry print with pleasing results.

My husband’s Christmas party was this Saturday just passed. The theme was ‘dress from your favourite erathat Mitre 10 existed in’ (it was their 50th anniversary), so I chose 50’s.

I had:

3 metres of black satin backed silk shantung

1 New Look pattern #6773

24 hours before the event starts

I made:

Problems:

1. Making the assumption that because my  measurements against the pattern said I should be bigger than a 16 (huh?), I made bigger than a 16, when the 14 would have been more than sufficient. Luckily it all zips up at the back so I was able to pull it in without unpicking the lining.

2. It’s got pleats in the skirt. They looked cute on the pattern picture -awful and bustle-like on me. So I unpicked them and sewed big darts so it sat flat but was still full (this was on Saturday morning, an hour before the ‘dress deadline’ arrived).

Overall:

I am so happy with how this came out. I put boning in for the first time. Made a ‘formal’ dress for the first time. And received compliments such as ‘You made that?’. Hooray!

Finished: 19th July 2009

Project: Summer Dress for me
Started: 18th July 2009
Expected completion: Complete!

Descprition:
This is a start, during and end post all in one as I finished this before I got around to posting that I was starting!

In a few weeks I’ll be somwhere where it is summer. Of course I now need a summer dress! My friend Kylie is very good at making shirred dresses and said they’re quite easy so I thought I’d make one for me using a stash of Heather Bailey’s, Pop Garden that’s been waiting a year for the ‘perfect project’. I’m very pleased with the result.

Thanks Kylie for the inspiration!