The 'blue language' dress

, a photo by Cloth cat on Flickr.

Pattern: one of the dress variations from Sew U – Home Stretch
Fabric: A very slinky knit from John Lewis (sorry can’t remember what it’s actually made out of)
Wear again?: Yes I’ve worn it for a day out shopping and also into work – I can see myself getting quite a bit of use out of it.
A while back I posted a query in the forum about getting a serger – thanks to everyone who replied, you were all very helpful. I finally got mine for Christmas, but then it sat in it’s box for a good two months glowering at me whilst I worked up the courage to actually try and work the thing. I finally got myself a copy of Sew U – Home Stretch by Wendy Mullan which is a really great introduction to sewing with stretch and decided to tackle this dress with some lovely navy sodalite blue/white striped jersey fabric I picked up half price in John Lewis (oh how I wish I’d just bought the whole end of the roll – would make a lovely top).
Anyway back to the ‘blue language’ dress – so called due to the amount of swearing that ensued during it’s making. This should have been a really simple make – no closures of any kind, and a very well written and easy to follow pattern (I really would recommend the book to anyone new to knit/stretch fabrics), however I still managed to muck it up! First I cut out the first piece of the pattern then wondered why it looked so small – then I remembered that there is no seam allowance given on the Sew U patterns, so I had to go back and re-trace all the pattern pieces and add on a seam allowance. Cutting (always my least favourite part anyway) was a bit difficult what with trying not to stretch the fabric whilst I laid it out and then trying to match up the stripes. Anyway I got them cut out and put them to one side until I got the time to sew them up.
A window of opportunity presented itself when I had to take the day off work as my youngest was sick with a cold. Despite being fairly bouncy when she got up, by 10:30 she was tucked up in bed and asleep. I decided to tackle the dress – but was constantly expecting her to wake up any minute, big mistake! I should never work under pressure – it definitely does something bad to my concentration. I started by sewing up one side of the shoulders then added the binding round the neckline and sewed up the shoulder – then I looked at what I’d done. I could have sworn I had the two right sides together when I pinned it but there staring me in the face was a bodice with a front inside out and back piece the right way round. Much swearing and unpicking ensued before I finally sewed it back the right way round. Then I sewed the first sleeve on – inside out! Had I not learned my lesson? At this point I decided to back away from the garment and leave it until I was in a somewhat less scatty brained mode. Another day, another attempt and it all finally came together without any more schoolboy errors. I was surprised to find on trying it on that it’s actually quite wearable, despite all the unpicking and re-sewing that went on.