One Pattern, Seven Bloggers - Finished!

Today is the last day of the "one pattern seven bloggers" project. It's been heaps of fun to do, and I would like to once again issue a HUGE thank you to Sam for instigating and organising it and choosing to include me in the group. Did you look at all the how-do posts last week? If you missed them, you can find links to them all at the bottom of this post.

Despite getting the bulk of my dress done at last month's MMQG SASD I still ended up finishing it just in time, squeezing in little bits of sewing between everything else I have going on. The zip went in on Sunday evening, Monday night the hem was pinned, and yesterday the skirt and lining were hemmed and the side seams taken in a smidge as the waist was a little big. Photos were very kindly taken by my lovely housemate this afternoon before the sun went down (Thanks Abby!).

Despite cutting it so close to the deadline, I am very happy with the dress. I'm happy with the fit (although think I might still need to fix the bust darts a little) and am very happy with the length and fullness of the skirt (about 275cm/108"; very full!!!). I gave it a nice wide hem to, in theory, support the fullness of the skirt slightly. Most importantly, as per my initial requirements, it has POCKETS!

I ended up fully lining it in Navy, using this tutorial again for sewing up the bodice. The skirt is also a gathered rectangle but isn't as full as the actual skirt, and then it's hemmed about 2 inches shorter than the skirt so it doesn't show. I also added some grosgrain ribbon to the lining waistband as a sort of waist stay (which I also did with my New Years dress), although it's not yet functioning as one as I haven't yet stitched the lining to the bodice at the waist so I can alter the darts if I want to

One last construction comment I wanted to include was the very helpful advice Tasia gave me regarding sewing in the zip. I had asked if the method she suggests for the Crescent would work for a dress and she suggested an alternative method that she used on her 60s shift dress. Bascially what I did was sew the lining to the fabric right sides together to where the zip would finish, then turned it right side out and the edge was beautifully finished and I just had to sew in my regular dress zip and sew together the rest of the centre back seam - it worked beautifully and is defnintely a method I will be remembering to use again in the future.

I can't really give much of a review of the pattern, as I completely butchered it, so I have no idea how the fit would actually have been. However, I was a bit unimpressed at the instructions that came with the pattern, particularly as it's a pattern you pay for, as they were HOPELESS. The lines for the pattern pieces don't have the sizes marked on them at all, and the instructions are completely full of errors that I guess must have happened when the file was created or something, as there's missing characters, and all sorts. They're as good as useless, I didn't bother using them at all. A big thumbs down from me, I think if I'm paying for a pattern I at least deserve someone to have proof read the instructions for font errors and typos!

Anyway, I don't want to end my post on a negative point so I will reiterate how much I love my finished dress, that I'm very happy with the quality of my work, and I can't wait to see the other gals dresses. You should remember to check out their dresses too, as before here's a list of links, I'll update them to be links to specific posts as they're posted:

Sam: http://hand-quilter.blogspot.com/
Marie: http://asewingodyssey.blogspot.com/
Reana Louise: http://curvespatternsandpins.blogspot.com/
Kat: http://petticoatsandpeplums.blogspot.com/2011/06/1-pattern-seven-bloggers-big-reveal.html
Jen: http://the-paperdoll.blogspot.com/
Amy: http://sewingthroughthemotions.blogspot.com/

Thanks again to Sam, Marie, Reana Louise, Kat, Jen and Amy for being part of this very fun project!