Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Marilyn and Me

Yesterday I wore my new dress-Marilyn Dress by Style Arc Patterns.  With all the fitting adjustments I  made, the end result was worth it.  The dress passed the wearability factor.  I took a few pictures of the dress before work yesterday morning.

My camera battery was not at full charge when I took this picture.  I like this picture over others I took of the front view, the brightness and colors are off no matter the editing I did. Pictures below are much better and very much like the actual fabric in real time.

Here is the back view:

The fit is good and will be better as I need to take a deeper seam at the back waist area for my swayback.  I doubt if others noticed it much; I could see it when standing side ways and just a tiny seam adjustment will do it.

The fabric wore very well; hardly any wrinkles at the end of the day.  Yeah! As I mentioned previously this fabric was purchased years ago when a local Walmart still had a sewing/fabric section. That WM was closed and they built a super store down the road from that one and eliminated the fabric section when they did so.  I am not sure of the fabric content, but it looks similar to a linen but obviously not as the lack of linen-wrinkles during and end of day proved to me that it wasn't.

I made numerous changes to this pattern. A comment on a previous post stated that SA patterns for her have a lot of ease in the shoulder upper body area and not enough in the bottom.  I found the same.  I sewed 5/8 inch seams for the shoulder and side seams using a 12-14 size for this pattern. I could have gone with 10-12 and used the 3/8 seam allowance.  I ended up taking about 3/4 inch seams in center back in the upper back above waist and tapered to 5/8 from waist down.

After figuring out how to sew the sleeves and attaching, I basted one sleeve in and decided to take a 5/8 seam from shoulder area down to notch in the front and only use 3/8 seam in the back arm area. I made notes all over the pattern instruction sheet so next time I will follow those details.  

I received lots of comments from co-workers and I loved the feel of the dress walking, sitting and standing.  I think the best fabric for this dress is a light weight fabric that has some drape to it.  I have some crepe fabric that I am thinking about trying next.

I am not sure what I will make next but most likely it will be a top pattern, though I am also thinking about some shorts.  More later.

16 comments:

  1. This is pretty and I like it on you. This is on my summer sew list too so it's good to read your take on the pattern. My fabric choice is a crepe so I'm sure your second one will be just as amazing.

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    1. Thanks Carolyn! I like that it just skims over the body and being somewhat A-line is a nice change for me.

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  2. Very pretty, Linda! Love the fabric- I used to find some great deals at WalMart occasionally as well. Looks like a great pattern for a comfy summer dress.

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  3. Also think it looks just fantastic on you and the print is beautiful for summer!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I really enjoyed wearing it and the print does say summer!

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  4. Oh I really love this. It's gorgeous on you. Fits perfectly.

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  5. Beautiful dress! I love your fabric choice. I didn't know that pattern but I will it to my wish list:)

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  6. Great dress for spring/summer! What a plus that fabric looks like linen and does not wrinkle.

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  7. Such a love dress - the colours are perfect for you. The slit in the sleeves make the dress super on-trend!

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