Since my daughter is graduating homeschool, I sewed a muslin to prepare for sewing this fancier version.
Happily, the muslin turned out so well, she wore it for a last-minute graduation photo op for the Awana Club slide show on award night.
While planning that photo op, I whipped out this more formal dress in a day since she had her first event in two days!
FABRIC
First, she shopped for fabric from my stash, where she found a lovely lavender linen with embroidery and sparkles!
Purchasing this last year at Hancock Fabrics, I am so glad I stocked up, because it is no longer available.
Nor is there any fabric in the stores these days that we like at all.
Even ready-made dresses in the store are meh.
For the lining, I dug from my stash this lovely complement to the lavender, previously used for her Roman costume a year ago.
PATTERN
Then she went through my patterns and looked at current patterns from the big pattern companies.
Her first few choices of patterns had to be put aside because there was not enough fabric.
Since I had originally purchased the last two yards of 60″ fabric, we were limited by that.
After prewashing it in the laundry, it shrunk quite a bit.
Choosing Simplicity 2886, she liked the hint of vintage flair so rarely seen in stores today.
Technically I did not have enough fabric for this dress either, but with creativity, I made it work!
NOTIONS
The only items I purchased for this dress was the pattern, a lavender zipper, and lavender thread, the latter of which were a perfect match to the lavender fabric.
That is a rarity!
ADJUSTMENTS
The dress is pleated in the bodice and skirt in front and back.
Although the pattern-placed pleating was not a perfect fit, it was easily adjusted to fit.
Like with the muslin, I again reoriented the zipper from the side (which had confusing directions on the pattern) and switched it to the back.
To maximize usage of the limited amount of fabric, I used some purple silk taffeta ribbon in place of self-fabric.
Purchased at JoAnn a year ago, I was glad to have this gorgeous ribbon in my stash.
While adding a different monochromatic texture, it has such a scrumptious touch and sound.
HANDPICKED ZIPPER
My favorite couture technique that I get better with over time is the hand-picked zipper that my mom taught me, which she learned from her aunt who sewed all her own suits in 1950s Manhattan when she was an executive secretary!
TIME TO SEW
This dress took me one day to sew, especially since I sewed the muslin first.
MODELING SNEAK PEAK
PATTERN ANALYSIS
Although parts of the pattern were difficult for me to figure out, like the description of the zipper placement on the side, adjustments were simple.
I plan to sew other dresses for my daughter with this pattern, since we’d like to try other variations displayed on the pattern cover which I’d like to try.
She is quite pleased with the dress and I’m happy it was easy to sew, since she has lots of graduation events forthcoming.
