Out and About and Across the Universe

I'm not quite sure whether or not this is the coolest or the weirdest fabric I've ever used. Trust me, it's been a roller coaster. I first bought it thinking it was okay, sort of regretted getting it after I washed it and saw the whole print laid out on the floor, thought it was awesome when I finished the bodice, thought the skirt portion looked a little weird, and then thought the whole thing looked good put together, but still slightly weird. Aside from all this doubt, I have a feeling this will be a dress I will flat out find awesome!

The pattern is Lisette for Simplicity 1419 which I picked up at Joann's a few weeks ago along with the fabric and the add-ons (i.e. bias tape, invisible zipper, etc.). A side note: the pattern, at the time, was on sale for $1.99 and I only saw a day later that they would have been on sale for $1... Ah well!

I was actually working on two (TWO!) other projects, but halted them to start this dress. I spent almost an entire day cutting and sewing and then finished up the zipper and hemming after work for two days. I was surprised at how dedicated and how quick I was to getting this done even with putting effort into making it fit correctly (seams and all!)! Another side note: I'm also surprised at myself for not wanting to give up the other two sewing projects either. I was never able to handle multiple sewing projects at the same time!

Based on my body measurements (primarily my waist and hip), I cut out a size 10. I'm not a huge fan with grading patterns and I usually just end up cutting the bigger size completely and then altering the pieces to fit correctly. I'm smaller at the top, width-wise and length-wise, so I actually had to make a number of changes to make the bodice fit me. Beside my usual taking-1"-from-the-bust and being the lazy bum I am, I brought up the shoulders instead of moving the bust and waist darts so that it didn't look like I had a saggy chest... Of course this brought an onslaught of other issues where I needed to extend the armholes down by a half inch (though I should probably make it an inch--it's a little tight) and take out an inch from the neckline and the collar so that it wouldn't turn out like a turtleneck (I wish I had a before picture...). Luckily, there was enough fabric at the lower bodice so that when I sewed the skirt to it using a 1/2" seam allowance, the waistline fell at my natural waist.

In terms of fit, I did have to take out some ease and could have cut one size down... Maybe two would be cutting it close (har har har). I took out about 1" at the waist and another 1.5" at the bust, both including the standard 5/8" seam allowances and both at the back. It was odd to take out more fabric from the back since the side seams seem to be placed correctly at the side without alteration. Do they add more fabric to the back to account for the zipper? Maybe I'm just crazy and did something wrong... Though it doesn't look wrong to me??

I took 5" off the skirt hem, overlocked the edges, and then folded and sewed it up rather than rolling the hem. The hemline is just a smidge too short for my liking. For skirts and dresses, I prefer to have the it be above-knee to knee length and this one is just a tad above the above-knee length. Perhaps I'm too picky about my hemlines. My friend saw no problems with the length!