Esprit dress: restyled

Do you remember the "Esprit Dress" that I wanted to recreate?

I finished the dress quite a while ago, after making some alterations indicated by the muslin

Most of the alterations were definitely necessary, however it turns out adding to the side seams was a mistake - the finished dress turned out a bit big and overall a bit frumpy. It was worn a couple of times and then shoved to the back of my wardrobe and not worn again... until me-made March prompted me to re-assess my me-made items.

I couldn't really take it in at the side seams, as that would have made the pockets too narrow and unusable, so I wasn't really sure how to make the dress more fitted.... so I didn't. Instead I hacked about 4 inches off the bottom of the skirt and re-hemmed it.

The skirt is still as un-fitted as it was before, but the shorter length has given it a bit of a 60s vibe, and it is finally wearable. More than that, it's super comfy! So comfy that I wore it two days in a row after modifying it.

An interesting thing that I want to mention, incase anyone else can learn from my mistake, is the placement of the pockets. When working out the pattern I didn't quite thing through the height the pockets should be - I forgot the seamline for the pocket was the top of the pocket, not the bottom. So the pockets on this dress are a little low... I can only just reach the bottom of the pockets with the tips of my fingers. But that's definitely a mistake I won't be making again!

Finally some dress progress...

This weekend just gone I stitched up the esprit dress that's been in the works for a while.

I had made the alterations indicated necessary by my muslin:

- A sway back adjustment

- I pinched about 1.5cm out of the top of the centre back seam, tapering that down to about the waist.

- I added about 1.5cm to the side seams of the skirt from a little above the hips downwards

- I pinched out some of the excess fabric around the top of the front princess seams.

I hadn't included seam allowances on my pattern pieces so it took a VERY long time to mark seam allowances onto the fabric and cut out the pieces. However, once that was done it came together very quickly.

I still need to hem it and I have to work out the best way to finish the arm holes (probably just with biased binding), but it's almost there. I think a couple of buttons are needed for this dress too; to hold the pockets closed as they're a bit gapey at the moment.

Also, something I hadn't noticed on the muslin (as I didn't include the pockets so didn't really think about it) is that the pockets are probably a little lower than they should be. It's not a disaster - I can still reach the bottom of the pockets while I'm wearing the dress, but if I were to use this pattern again I'd move the pockets up about 1-2 inches, as where they sit at the moment they proportions aren't quite right. You live, you learn, right?

What's up next? A break from wardrobe project garments, The Madeline Mini Bloomers from Colette patterns in some blue gingham from my stash.

Muslin Draft 1...

I finished stitching my esprit dress muslin together today. The first thing I learnt - sewing curves is tricky! Secondly, I need to make some alterations to the pattern before making the real thing. However, for a first try both at this dress in particular and pattern altering in general I don't think it's too bad.

The Front: there is some baggy-ness around the front of the armholes, and it's a bit tight around the hips, so I need to let that out slightly so it doesn't pull across so much.
The Back: You can't quite see it here but it gapes quite a bit at the top of the centre back, and as you can see it has gathered up quite a lot by my lower back, so I need to fix that too.
To help me with these alterations I got a book from the library to help me with called "Fast Fit: Easy Pattern Alterations for Every Figure". I'm not sure what it's like or if it's even any good, but it was the only one they had on fitting patterns, so I figured I'd give it a go.

I got a few other books while I was at the library, mostly sewing ones, but also one called "A Guide to Elegance" that caught my eye on she shelf above the sewing books, which has some very entertaining passages in it. Here's one that caught my eye earlier on the topic of shopping:

"Shopping provides that same joys in the city that hunting does in the country - in both cases the huntress is rewarded by bagging the object or animal of her dreams!"

Quiet but busy week

I haven't really done much sewing this week, my attention has been firmly gripped by le Tour de France. Other than time spent in the lab (mostly rummaging through the -80 freezer looking for my missing samples) my view of the week can be pretty well summarised by the picture below, just interchange what chair I'm sitting in between the couches in the tearoom at work, the chair in front of the heater (photographed) and the couch (usually snuggled under my couch quilt).


I've been feeling a bit guilty at how many unfinished projects I've been allowing to build up over the last few weeks though. I have Two things that are cut out and ready to sew, a few things that are half sewn and a few other bits and pieces. Reorganisation of my fabric last weekend means that these "UFOs" have graduated to having their own box. I have set myself the rule that I'm not allowed to let this box overflow... which means I really need to finish some stuff off as it's full at the moment!



I did say "haven't done much" at the beginning of this post, not "haven't done any", which is true. At the beginning of the week I had a play around modifying (read butchering) a pattern I already have to work out if I think I can make my own pattern for the Esprit dress I posted about in my last update.

I took the bodice pattern from New Look 6726, changed the neckline, then added the pleats. This picture is the first try of the pleats, and they're not quite placed right, or at quite the right angle, but I think I can get them to work with a few changes.

Now to work out the skirt part. I could try working something out myself or I could use the skirt from Simplicity 2965. Needless to say given my indecisive nature I haven't decided which option to pursue yet.

And lastly, Cherri from Cherry house quilts is planning a quilt along to (try and) create one of these beautiful little bouquet quilts. I'm strongly considering having a go, as it'd be a fun opportunity to have a go with free motion quilting which I haven't been gutsy enough to try yet. So, this evening while considering joining in with this quilt along I had a look through my fabrics to see if I have any that are suitable and came up with the (quite measly) box of fabric pictured below. As the instructions for the quilt along are posted I will make the decision whether to try making something with what I have or to buy some fabrics to use (or a bit of both).

Dress To Make...?

I was playing around with the bluetooth on my phone so I could download the various photos I've taken on it and rediscovered the photos of a dress I tried on in esprit a while back.


I love the curved seams up the sides, with the incorporated pockets. Sadly the dress wasn't quite the right shape for me so I didn't buy it, but did take these sneaky changing room photos. I would like to try making a similar dress, I don't know if I'd be so ambitious as to try and draft something myself or if I'd try and find a pattern with a similar shape to use.


I'm going into the city this afternoon to see the Barbie Exhibition so maybe I'll pop into Clegs and have a look through the pattern books while i'm there.