Sunday 16 March 2014

Trying something different - Simplicity 1873

Last weekend was a long weekend in Victoria and with no kids sport I was able to clear a few UFOs out of the sewing room.


Simplicity 1873 is probably the second oldest UFO in the cupboard (the other is a Vogue coat which was cut out two years ago!).  It's not my usual style but I decided that it would be just the thing to wear to my cousins (April 2013) wedding.  It was 99% finished when it got thrown in the back of the cupboard.


On the morning of the wedding I tried it on to finish the hem and - finally - noticed that the back was ridiculously big.  I tried a few different darts but I just didn't have the time to keep messing with it before the wedding. Then it turned cold and this got put aside.  To fix the back I took a two inch dart starting at the back neckline and running it down parallel to the dart at the base of the bodice.  That's a whopping four inches removed from the back neckline.  After such a long break from the dress it only took me about 15 minutes to finish it.


Aside from the back fitting issues the dress went together really easily.  I cut a 14 adding an extra inch of length through the body and an extra 2.5 inches to the skirt hem.  I also cut the skirt front and side as one continuous piece and I removed some of the skirt fullness by folding out one of the pleats from the side skirt panel and from the skirt back.  This is one very full skirt.


The fabric is a navy spotted cotton sateen from Spotlight several years ago.  I love the finished dress.  I think the fitted waist is very flattering and the full skirt is very fun.  I've just purchased the Flora pattern and some more cotton sateen so I think they'll be more dresses like this in the future :)