I’ll Take One in Every Color… With a Pair of Shoes to Match

Another one of these dresses!  Call it Me-Made-May fever, if you will, or you could say I just really love this dress!  This is one of my new favorite styles, and after I made the last one, I had to have another go at it – this time without messing up the front and having to do a top stitch.  I actually completed this dress a couple of weeks ago, and even had this blog post ready to go for almost as long, it has just been a pain to get outfit photos lately.  So finally, here is more than you wanted to know about another one of my handmade dresses. (This post also has another shoe save as well, so skip to the end for that.)

I started off and left the center seam alone and the front facing this time, so no problems to speak of there, whew!  I didn’t get away problem free though.  I was a little disappointed after the dress went through the final wash, because it seemed I still had something to work on and redoing the back zipper, once again, was almost inevitable.

I had a few more fitting issues than I would have liked this time around.  The only change I made to the pattern was to take in each of the front princess seams by 1/4 in, but I left everything else the same.  There was only once facing seam this adjustment affected and I took it in accordingly, all was lining up perfectly.

Once it was done, the dress felt big at the shoulders and it looked too tight in the back.  I tried to remedy this by letting out the darts a little; nothing changed.  So, on to adjusting the zipper.

I did this zipper three times, and on what I thought was my last attempt I actually put the dress on top of my other one to measure the placement, but it still ended up not fitting quite right.  I wondered if maybe it was my fabric choice, it is a lot thinner than the last so could that by why it isn’t holding up shape in the back?  I read the package for fabric suggestions.  I did make it with a recommended material, so I was just left scratching my head.  Until…

It finally dawned on me that since I took a little bit in at the front, I couldn’t just measure the back of the existing dress for the zipper placement and get the same fit because the front was gonna be a bit tighter on this one.  I figured it out, adjusted the zipper seam, and suddenly all of my problems went away – so I thought.  Looks like thinking ahead would have helped me some here.

The dress was finally complete, I thought I was happy with it, so I wore it this last weekend.  It still had that noticeable rolled look in the back, I didn’t like it.  That evening, once I got home, I immediately went to seam ripping the zipper and tried for a better fit.

The only thing I could think to do was let out the zipper some.  I tried my other version on for a fit comparison and going a little looser with this was hopefully going to help.  I also noticed that I could do with a little shortening of the bodice.  Having that all done, I can finally say, it is really finished.  It will be worn as is from here on out and I WILL NOT unpick the zipper anymore.

After looking at the pictures I took though, I might, might, think about taking up the shoulders a bit.  But that is gonna involve a lot of seam ripping, I think I might rather do this on my next attempt.

Dress – Simplicity 1803 // Shoes – Hot Tomato

Now for the shoes.  I have had these for a few years and always struggle with what to wear them.  I don’t think I will be having that problem anymore; I finally found something.  No big deal, I only had to make the something that would go with them (I totally wasn’t thinking about these shoes when I was picking out material for this dress, it just worked out to be a pretty good match all by itself).  Perhaps I should do this more often, make outfits to match my shoes?  It would be a lot of fun to shop for shoes and material at the same time.  🙂

Now, I’m off to the sewing room.  I need to make sure I write these adjustment and fitting notes onto the pattern so I don’t make this same mistake again.  Or I just may downsize completely.  You’ve not seen the last of this one…

Thanks for stopping by and reading.  I know, it was a long post.

*Linking up with:  Shoeperwoman , Do Tell Tuesday, Simple Sequins, and Passion for Fashion.