Hello all!

This dress is another make that puts me in a really good mood when I wear it, and we all need some more of those right now! The design was actually inspired by a different fabric, which was just calling out for a big bishop sleeve. Unfortunately the pattern didn’t fit, so this was my back up fabric. This way I could assess the fullness/length of the sleeves and see if I could narrow/shorten them atall so that they would fit on my original fabric.

The body of the dress is pretty simple. I rotated the dart in my sloper front to be a french dart and also flared the skirt slightly. I ended up having to put a waist seam in the back, purely because I couldn’t fit the whole back piece in my 1m of fabric. The sleeves are obviously the crowning glory of this dress and I slashed and spread to get a ton of volume, whilst also adding length so that the sleeves could pool against my wrist.

I did learn that the cuffs have to be pretty snug to stop the sleeves ending halfway down my hand and just looking too long. Next time I’m going to try a slightly longer shaped cuff that ends lightly further up the arm. The cuffs currently only have one button to fasten them but they really need two, so I’ve ordered some and will swap them out when they arrive.

The fabric is a crepe (I really should work out whether it’s wool or polyester) and it’s pleasantly surprised me. I normally avoid crepe fabrics because I find the texture a bit unpleasant, but actually I found it perfectly okay to wear, which is good to know! It also has the perfect drape for the sleeves.

One thing I do want to look at for version 2.0 is the fit of the back. I’d like to make it fit the curve of my back better. I find when I pin out the excess, it makes the hem rise up so I need to work out how to counteract that issue.

I had initially planned on lining the dress, but decided that it didn’t need it. I can always put a slip underneath if necessary The neckline was finished with bias binding, as was the hem, and all of the insides were overlocked.

And that’s pretty much all I have to say about this one! I look forward to making a few tweaks before making it in the fabric it was originally intended for.

Thank you for reading!

Lauren xx