Crepe de Caffy - Finished Project. The Mean Green Hen-do Machine Dress

Colette Patterns - Crepe
Emerald Green Cotton Lawn and 'Ditsy Flower' Cotton contrast

Finished Welsh Hen Party Dress- done! But not in time- fail! 


So in the spirit of poetic licence, I have made this dress in celebration of, rather than made for, the hen party that was last week. Have I got away with it??

I used emerald cotton with a contrast of a ditsy floral print which I won from Fabric Godmother. I was part of the ‘300 followers competition’ All I did was RT and won a metre+ of the lovely ditsy fabric and some black thread! No complaints there, obviously. I was soo happy with that and have hence-forth become a very happy loyal customer of the site, its fantastic! Clever Fabric Godmother, very clever! Also, I think FG has gone way way way over 300 followers by now, or they should have. If not following on Twitter, then you should!

The dress, part of the 3 Colette patterns that I bought in March, was a good meaty project. I loved the new skill of interfacing and under-stitching that I learned here, very professional. I hand-stitched the interfacing because I love the finish*...

... It looks like a vintage bespoke piece that I would love to find in a shop, with character and quality(ish, it was my first go at interfacing so it was never going to be the best, but I am proud).

Darts, seams and tidy finish... I'm getting better!

*I also hand-stitched the interfacing because Gertie told me to, too.

Upon reflection....

• I will never sew again cream-crackered... I was making the ties and was told to fold the ties in half and then sew them shut and turn right way round. I stupidly stitched the wrong side... i.e. the folded side. Tsk. Unpicky wicky
• I fully understood under-stitching right when I was finishing the back interfacing. Unpicky wicky. BUT I am a mean under-stitcher now and a kick ass unpicker!
• Very big isn’t it? Looks much better than when it was just a bodice however.
• One seam 'match-up' boo boo. Its on the left on the dress (the section without the opening for the wrap-straps) and I seem to have lost 0.5cm and couldn't get the bodice to perfectly match the skirt section, so this is the best I could come up with. But it's not ever so noticeable but it's food for thought with the next dress that I make. 

• Tailors Ham?! Make/buy one!! They are so handy for curved pieces of fabric and setting fabric in the right position before you stitch. Ace. I'm now going to make a Seam roll, too.

• I need to shorten the pattern pieces and not just rely on a hem plus a bit to accommodate my 5'3'' stature. I ended up chopping off 8cm from the bottom just to get it to the right length for me. I know that it's not the right way to go about shortening a dress and I will take that away with me to do pattern adjustments pre-cutting the fabric.

However! It looks nice and I will wear it. It's dress-upable or dress-downable, that is a prerequisite for me and what I wear! 

I tried taking some pics outside, this is Ireland remember, but I wanted some better light... this was the result....

FAIL!

Make again? Yes, already thinking of some cooky combos!

Cost: Pattern €12.50, Fabric €8.97 (3m of cotton, free contrast), thread, part of an eBay steal... probably 20c

€19.67

Time taken: 11.5 hours. I am now a fully fledged pattern tracer now, however!

Bundana

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