Finished Dress: The Coffee Date Dress!

Another Finished project for 2012!

Remember this post? Well I had to wait until I was off this week to even start working on my second "test" dress because work has been insane (late late nights and weekend work took over my life for a few weeks).  But luckily I booked this week off knowing that i'd need some time away from that place and a few days to sew before Ange's wedding!

I had all the pieces for the larger pattern size cut out, and after taking all day Monday to do nothing I started sewing on Tuesday and finished it in just a few hours.  This was the first picture I took after finishing the bodice, and the skirt wasn't really attached yet, I just used the belt to hold it up.

The next few shots are horrible, but at least you can see the full dress. 

Front - I still don't know how to stand to show off the clothes and not look like a goof.  

Modifications from my first test dress: I went up two sizes to a 36, the first size 32 was way to small. Turns out I just didn't measure myself properly (aka at all).  I've learned so much in this process about making clothes and proper measurements and fit.

I also included the ruffle on this dress vs. the previous test dress, and I'm really glad I did, it was super easy and I think it just dresses it up a bit more.

Back - this was before I hand sewed the lining down to the zipper.  The pins are now gone and its looking great. 

I still have to hem the bottom of the skirt.  I think I'm going to bring the bottom up to just above my knee. The other change I made from the pattern was to attach a full bodice lining. (vs. just the facings)  This made a huge difference in the look in my opinion.  In the previous test dress the fabric was so thin that you could see the facings which I really didn't like. Plus although I didn't make any size modifications to the bodice, I think having the extra thickness throughout helped with the fit.  It seriously is the perfect fit up top.

Side View 

A close up view with the ruffle, so glad I included it!

So if you remember this was suppose to be a second "test" dress.  I made it out of some cotton broadcloth that I got at Fabricland for I think $20. However I really love the colour, and minus a few minor issues (the ironing job sucked when i did the darts and there is a slight pintuck in the skirt top) its pretty good.  And I've decided that I'll just wear this one to the wedding, instead of making a whole other dress.

That all said - I did still get Paul to drive me down to the workroom this week to look at fabric and patterns, because this dress has made me want to sew even more.  So because it was only Wed and I still had the rest of the week off, I picked up this pattern. 

And some Quilters linen by Robert Kaufman in a yellow (its actually called Ochre) - which I love!  I'm going to do another post with the progress of this dress - which i'm hoping to have finished today - then I'll be able to have two choices for the wedding! 

Only two days of holidays left :(.  And the sewing to-do list is still pretty long.  Its going to be another late night of sewing and i'm just fine with that !