I am pretty sure I used to come up with amusing titles for these posts. Or at least tried to. Oh, well, this is descriptive I guess.
I finally managed to get some photos of the black dress I mentioned in a previous post, where I showed you the skirt I had made with the skirt part of this pattern.The skirt is more full in the dress than as a skirt because it’s sitting higher up. I did add fabric on to the waist because I’m long waisted, but not as much as I am always tempted to do, so it sits much higher than I wear my skirts. Feels kind of weird to me but it looks good.
It’s from Ottobre Women 5/2011, and it’s the plain version of the pattern. The pattern comes with a couple of variations but I just sewed it straight up, with some variations. The pattern actually doesn’t go up big enough for me, so I sort of fudged it and added some width to the pattern pieces. Not the right way to do it, but it worked. Mostly. My notes say that I added a centimetre to each side seam, and two centimetres to the centre front seam, so six cm all up.
Bonus dorky hat edition. Those shoes and socks are my favourite matches-but-not-really combo. And the front yard weeds are out of control! At least it has tiny peaches in it.
To get the sleeves to fit the new armscye I added a centimetre to each edge, and then tapered it out to 3cm to fit my bingo wings in, since the first sleeves I cut were way too tight. Also, when I first set the sleeves in they were SO POOFY. I did a very dodgy mod and took some of the curve off, but I’m wearing it now and looking at my arms I can see quite a lot of poof still. It’s ok – I quite like it when my arms are down although when I move I’ve got a lot of extra fabric – but in future I’ll be following Jessica’s mod and taking the ease out of all my sleeve caps. It just makes me mad, so get rid of it!
Because I just added to the centre seam the neckline but it was way too wide, and too low as well, so I made some thick bias binding and used that to finish it off. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. Because it was still gapey, I bunged in a couple of dodgy darts. I don’t know if you can see them.
It works ok. Another time I might make the bust darts deeper instead but I had already sewn it all up and spent hours fussing over it, so this works well enough. I think what I really need to do is leave the pattern the size it is and do an FBA. It fits me well in the bust, but I can see it pulling in these photos so it could probably do with better shaping.
I could stand to lose some fabric out the back, so I think I can get away with the smaller size.
I left out the zip because the fabric is stretchy and it doesn’t need it – I might even be able to get away with doing this in a non-stretch.
I could have done with a swayback adjustment, too.
This fabric attract lint like WOAH.
I will definitely sew this pattern again, with those adjustments, since I like the line of it and it would be easy to modify to make different looks. It fits well without being tight anywhere, which was my aim. I can’t speak for the pattern instructions since I didn’t have them. I’m planning to buy this magazine as a back issue because I like it but I made this from a tracing from Su’s magazine. But I mean, there’s not that much too it. You just sew it together in the usual order, whatever that is for you.
I didn’t line it at all because the fabric is thick enough. The skirt sticks to my bikeshorts a bit but it’s not too bad.
Fabric: Three metres or so of some mystery cotton stretch from the stash
Pattern: Ottobre 5/2011
Notions: None!
And the insides? Overlocked the seams together after baste fitting.
Time to complete: 6 hours? 8? With lots of faffing around in between.
First worn: To work last week
Wear again? Yep! It’s not perfect but it’s a nice simple black dress that’s comfy and neat, so it’s going to go in the standard work rotation.
Total price: How long does fabric have to be in your stash before it’s free? I doubt I would have paid more than $10 a metre for fabric at the time that I bought it, so let’s say $30 all up.
Craftastrophies 
Looks great Kate. Flattering, stylish, comfortable. Win!
I have a pair of lint attracting pants. I walk through the house and dust and cat hair just flock to me. Insane-making, it is.
Socks! Tiny peaches! I approve.
Mr T has a pair of lint attracting socks. I use them as sacrificial items and wash them all the time… they attract all the lint and leave the rest of the load relatively hair-free. He does look a bit like a hobbit when he wears them, though.
You’ve done a brilliant job! With 2 cats, a long-haired dog and a short-haired dog I am a walking linty hairy person. To say nothing of the drifts of animal hair and fluff decorating the floor.
I’ve decided that really, lint is the least of my presentation worries. I’ll so my best when it’s first out of the washing machine but after that there’s cat hair all over everything anyway. Let’s call it an accessory.