The English Garden Dress

This B5488 dress was finished over a week ago. My biggest problem was getting a photo. Despite our crazy Florida weather, I was determined to "model" it outside in the garden. When there was sunshine, the heat (index 109F) and huminity was so high that my camera screen fogged. Late in the day, there was lightning and/or rain. The possible days were windy. I thought that I had chosen a perfect day. Then, the wind decided to appear at an inappropriate time (for me). The dress tends to ballon with the wind. Maybe, I need to rename this the "billowing dress". Please keep this in mind. I look heavier in picture than I am (ugh!!) and the hem really is even. If you look closely, there is a flower stalk in the lower left corner of the picture. I managed to cut off the other flowers. The butterfly even flew away from the camera! That's enough whining!

Here's a picture on Dolly, without the wind. I think it shows the actual fit of the dress better.

This dress is super easy to sew. It only took an afternoon even with a couple of problems that I experienced.The pleats might cause a bit of a challenge for new sewers, but they are clearly marked on the pattern pieces. I did have a problem with the yoke in this fabric. I changed (means ripped out) the yoke in the same fabric. It didn't look right, looked sloppy, and reminded me of a mumu (a real danger with this pattern if anyone is not into mumus). I was able to find a matching fabric in my stash. Note: A large fabric stash can help with emergencies. Once the yoke was sewed, it looked so lonely that I added a band to the sleeves. BTW, I added about 3 inches to the sleeves. The yoke and band looked just added on (which they were). So, I added topstitching in the darker blue. That helped a lot. The picture of the yoke is blurry but it does show the topstitching. The picture of the sleeve band is clearer.

In the muslin, I made my usual size 12 for the top and tapered out to size 14 for the hips. This pattern has A LOT of ease. I ended up making a straight size 12 for the final dress. The extra ease made a great nightgown!

During the month of May, I actually made 2 nightgowns. Despite the ugly fabric of this one, I love both of them. There will not be any more oversized t-shirts at night!

I do like this dress although I won't say I love it. I won't make it again although I may shorten it and make a top. It's just so hot that I like a looser fitting top in the summer. As for dresses, I definitely will go for more fitted in the future.

I've finished a skirt that I love. This post is long enough for now so I'll post about it later this week.