For those of you that don’t know, I work in the marketing dept of a company that sells fabric both to designers and people who like to sew things at home. We’ve recently launched a competition where you can win prizes for sharing photos of party dresses you’ve made. Being the top-notch marketer I am, as I hammered out a company blog post about it I convinced myself that I absolutely needed to learn to sew. Balmain-inspired dress at a fraction of the cost? Yes please.
After announcing to all and sundry my intentions I set about finding a pattern (my last attempt at sewing with just a YouTube video to follow did not go well to say the least.) Unfortunately, pretty dresses and statement coats all looked way too complicated for me, if not down-right scary. At times, I was convinced that the pattern instructions were just filled with lies – I mean, who knew that not all stitching is actually supposed to stay intact?
I settled on a simple shift dress – normally I don’t like shift dresses. Magazines may say they suit all shapes and sizes but my hips like to say something different. A lot different. Anyway, at this point I wasn’t too convinced that the dress would actually be, ya know, wearable; so I wasn’t too bothered about the style.
Thanks to Mamma Bear helping out with the zip, and the darts… and explaining the directions, the dress was made in about two days. There were some mishaps though; being a short-arse meant altering the pattern so that the bum area was at my bum, not my knees… this however had a knock on effect. It meant the darts on the bust also had to be altered – and my altering skills leave a bit to be desired. With a necklace on you can’t really tell; but without one my boobs suddenly looks a bit like a Madonna cone bra that’s got a bit tired and stated drooping. Trés chic.
I also accidentally cut my interfacing bits (that give the collar area some shape and strength) into four pieces instead of two. This resulted in a 30 minute long game of trying to match the four pieces up correctly and sew them together because by this point I’d run out of interfacing. Mum was dragged into the game and was delighted, as I’m sure you can imagine.
When it was finally made I did feel immensely proud to be honest. And when I wore it the next day everyone told me how nice I looked… but that could be because I’d spent the day sashing round in a I’vegotanewdressnoticeitdamit kinda way. Would I make another outfit? I’d like to say yes, I’d like to think I had the courage. However part of me is still nervous about this new found skill. I can be a bit results-driven, and if I’m going to spend two days hunched over a machine, I want something tangible to come out of it. I don’t want to do it only to realise my new jacket actually looks a bit crap crap/won’t stay together. I think I may practise a few more shift dresses, until I feel confident enough to sew a straight line then move on to other simple styles. That Balmain-inspired dress is just going to have to wait *sighs*
This photo is not the best of me, as I do look like I might-kinda possibly be preggers. FYI I’m not, I just like food. I thought I’d share it though as it does show how the dress looks in real life, and annoyingly I’ve just noticed a thread hanging down at the bottom. BRB, just making sure the dress hasn’t unravelled in the wardrobe.
