The last summer dress.
My goal this summer has been to make 3 dresses for myself. After the success of my Black Heart dress and the Fishies dress, I thought I had gotten the hang of this summer dress thing. Well. That was until I decided to make the very popular Butterick Misses' Wrap Dress. Others have made very cute versions of this dress, so I thought I was on solid ground.
Pattern specs:
Pattern: Butterick 4790, reissue of a vintage pattern. Purchased at Sav-A-Thon in Brooklyn.
Fabric: red with orange polka dots (4 yds) and solid orange (1 yd), purchased during a massive fabric binge at Purl Patchwork.
Notions: Lots and lots of red bias tape (4 or 5 yds), purchased in the garment district. No zipper!
Notes: I made no mods to this pattern, and the fit is terrible. The construction of this dress is such that I'm not sure how to fix it. It is too big in the bust, waist and neckline. The heavy full skirt pulls on the shoulder seam. It is awkward to wear 2 half skirts. The orange underskirt has a tendency to scooch itself towards the front, and the 2 red fronts get blown back as you walk. I haven't flashed anyone though (but have gotten pretty close)!
I was so discouraged that I didn't go for a full photoshoot. This pic was taken at the Central Park lake, on a row boat. Do you remember the exchange that I had with my friend Sarah? I made her a dress, and she took me on a row boat. She even rowed the whole time!
The only thing about this dress that I'm happy about is the discovery of the hemmer foot on my sewing machine! If I'd chosen to hem by hand, I'd still be hemming this full skirt right now. I started this dress on tuesday night to wear to a date on wednesday night (Feist at the MacCarren Park Pool!), so thank you hemmer foot!
Next up: finished socks and a Fall sweater project...
Labels: summer dress
