E dresses

Last week I picked up a copy of the Stylish Dress Book from my local bookshop. I love so many of the dresses in this book, but Dress E won out as the one I wanted to try first. So, I packed the book in my bag and headed to my childhood home for a few days where I had time (and Mum's sewing room) to give this pattern a whirl. This is my first try at it - made from an inexpensive (but pretty - I like it) fabric from Spotty ...

The thing I love about this dress is the subtle box pleating in the front. It gives the dress a nice amount of shape and detail. However, it was also my downfall ...

The pattern says the pleats should be 3cm, so that's what I did, but that made the front too narrow and just a bit too tight for me. You can see the slight strain on the fabric in this area even on the dress form. The second photo shows that the back sits up to compensate for the tightness. Bummer. Rather than undo it (which I will at a later stage ... probably!), I made another one. This time, I did 2.5cm pleats and it fits perfectly ...

Aside from changing the width of the pleats slightly, I also added about 15cm to the length of it so that I could wear it properly as a dress. The original length is more like a tunic, where you would wear jeans or leggings underneath. I'm really happy with this dress. I now feel confident to make it in Liberty, which was always the goal!

I thought I might include this last pic as it shows how tricky it was to get a decent shot of these dresses on a dreary, drizzly and windy morning in Melbourne yesterday!

Check out what everyone else has been making over at our creative spaces.

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