This dress is all my own! I had no real design inspiration, and I came up with the name all by myself! (I’m a little proud of it.)
Mistakes were still made, however. On one of my cutting out binges (I explained how I love cutting new projects out, didn’t I?), I went ahead and cut this one out in a size 14, which is what I was using months ago. I think I even cut this out last fall, because the colors are pretty subdued and autumnal. I pulled it out of my box of projects, feeling guilty about starting something new when I had so many unfinished ideas in there, and made it to wear to Theo’s dedication on St. Patrick’s Day morning. I sewed it all up in one night, with no one to check me for fit. That means, of course, that I was frustrated the next morning to have a slightly gappy neckline (though not enough to make it inappropriate, just enough to be annoying) and a looser waistline.
What is so weird about my body? I kept thinking. Am I going to have to make adjustments to every single pattern from now on? Take in 3 inches here and let out 1 inch there? Aargh, that did not sound fun. Adding length to the bodice pieces, yes, that I can do. I have made mental notes to do that for the last 3 or 4 dresses, but since I cut out so many before I actually sewed one…yeah, you see what happened there. From now ON I will add about 2″ to the bodices. But all of those other strange measurements? Oh that just sounded depressing.
So I hung this dress up when we got home from church, and didn’t even take real pictures in it. I only have the ones taken during the dedication. I was so annoyed.
Then, epiphany.
(I know that I have sewing skills, but sometimes, the obvious escapes me.)
I looked at the measurements on the back of the pattern, and then I looked at the “ease” above the size measurements. Ahhhhh. Light bulb. This pattern has 2.5 inches of ease.
That means, I need to sew about 2 sizes smaller to make it fitted instead of gappy. I need to sew a size 10.
And I did, in the next dress. And guess what? It fit like a dream, even in the back with the zipper, and no adjustments were made.
Except I still forgot to add 2″ to the bodice. Grr!!!
