I made a dress this weekend, and it was actually wearable! In public! In fact, I wore it all day yesterday. No one asked if I made it (another success), and I kind of got compliments on it. But, before I show it to you, I thought it’d be funny to review my dress failures.
1 - This one never got finished. It was too ugly. I cut it apart, and vowed to not try the pattern again (not only was the fabric a poor choice, but the dress is unflatteringly shapeless, has exterior pockets, a neckline that is too high and too tight, and sleeves that are too small).
2 - The finishing techniques I used on this dress are beautiful. The bodice was hand-sewed down, all the seams are French, and I used my narrow hem foot for the hem (which looks spectacular). I even got those pleats right in the front. Unfortunately, this dress is actually a muumuu. Yeah, I know. It's ankle-length, and shapeless, and, well, no good.
1/2 - I'm only counting this as a half failure, because I did, indeed, wear this one in public (twice, in fact). It was my "muslin" from a vintage pattern, and I learned what curved side darts do. Can you see in the picture? There's a poof of fabric at my belly. It's just empty fabric. Totally unflattering.
3 - I am so in love with this fabric, it hurts that this turned out so terribly. I made up version B (the yellow dress in the picture). It's not finished yet, because I ran into the problem of it being about 6 sizes too big. Really. It's ridiculous. I even tried adding many rows of shirring at the waist (a first for me, using elastic thread in my machine), but it didn't help (or it didn't help enough). Before I deconstruct it, I'll take a picture of me in it, so we can all laugh together. The pattern is cute, so I'm wondering if making it in a cotton instead of a knit would make a difference. And making a significantly smaller size.
4 - You remember this one. I talked about it last week. Total bummer that it makes me look 6 months pregnant. It is finished, however, including a great hem and hand-stitching on the inner bodice, and will be gifted to a friend.
So, you understand why, when I asked 
what my chances of success were for my next attempt, he voted for failure. I mean, 4 1/2 out of 5 failures? I seem doomed. [Editor's note: it seems like this curse is solely limited to dresses. I've made some fantastic skirts in the meantime, and some other projects that I haven't exactly finished yet (hello, trouser pants with the weird bunching under the zipper). And my quilting projects have overwhelmingly been a success. That's comforting, right?]
Woo-hoo! Success! (It seems I am incapable of posing and smiling nicely for the camera. I don't know what my problem is.)
I had a feeling this might be a success, however. Let’s break it down so you can see why.
Here's the entirety of the pattern pieces cut out. 2 pieces. Love! (3 pieces if you want to make the sleeves.) Do you see the success here? There's shaping at the waist, on both the front and back pieces! It seems I might be getting wiser (or at least smarter).
Here's the detailing of the scrunch under the bust. There's supposed to be a casing on the inside with elastic on it, but a bunch of people on Pattern Review said it looked bad, and I agreed. Most people chose to make their own scrunch somehow, and this is what I ended up with. Simple but effective.
One of my secrets to success? I used my twin needle to hem the neckline, "sleeves" and hem. I think that's one of the reasons no one asked if I made it. Doesn't it look nice?
I absolutely love this fabric, too. It’s a “stretch luxe jersey” something from Fabric.com (that’s no longer available), and I’m glad that I have a couple of yards in cream. It has great drape, and is just a bit slinky (as in, must wear smoothing undergarments). The only problem with it is that it doesn’t breathe. At all. Never again will I wear this dress for a lunchtime walk in 85* weather. Yuck. But overall, it’s great fabric. I think I’m going to use what’s leftover to make a tank top, if I have enough.
Coincidentally, I'd already made up jewelry to match. I made these up a few months ago, and I don't really wear much navy, so I'm not sure what I was thinking. (As a child, I wore a lot of navy, due to being a redhead, and so have since eschewed navy clothing.)
I’m so happy it all worked out! Is the curse lifted? We’ll see. Monday night, I tried to pick out another dress to make, and could not match up any fabric with a pattern (though I have ample amounts of both). I’m still a bit gun shy, I suppose. So, I spent the evening doing a tiny bit of cleaning in my sewing room, and finishing up two projects (that olive linen dress? hemmed, and I hemmed the lining of a store-bought dress that needed a small modification to be wearable).
My next step is to pick out a dress pattern that will look good made out of cotton, because that’s the majority of my stash. If you have recommendations (knee-length, fitted at the waist please), let me know.
Hi Kelly!
Jane just share your blog address with me–love the dress!! It looks wonderful!
Natasha
Thanks! I’ve been enjoying your blog as well (found via FB).
I have a whole bunch of failures too (including the same armhole issue you encountered with the first dress).
I’m considering this pattern for a piece of knit I have and am wondering how you made the gathering — it looks great and I want to copy you.
Thanks! For the gathering, I just made even stitches, by hand, and then pulled it tight, and reinforced it by repeating it several times. This fabric was very fluid, so that helped a lot, and it was very forgiving. The other thing is to put on the dress and figure out exactly where that gather should be – don’t go by where the pattern tells you to put it, but put it where it looks best on your body.
I don’t know if you’re on Pattern Review or not, but here’s my review, as well as several others on the pattern (which is where I got the idea to do the gathering).