Another Summer Dress

Another dress from Sainsbury's, £20.  This one is shirred around the sides and back of the bodice so fits very nicely.  The fabric is quite fine and it is lined.  Really pleased I saw this dress, I love red...

To go with it and give me a bit of cover on the shoulders I bought this little cardigan, only £8.  It's 60% cotton and will be just right if I get a bit cool...

The red is quite a near match to the dress.  Maybe I'll team it with my red shoes and bag, if that looks too much red, my black shoes and bag will also go nicely.

The dress is a size 12 and the cardigan is a size 16.  I tried the 14 cardigan but it was a bit tight across the back.  I never trust sizings!

Summer Clothes 2015

It's that time of year again when I start taking an interest in clothes.  I spend the winter well bundled up so it will be nice to dress up a bit.  I bought this dress from Sainsbury's a few months ago...

It was shown on a mannequin near the entrance to the store and I loved it as soon as I saw it.  It's slightly short to what I like to wear but still covers my knees.  The navy tights and red shoes it was teamed with made it look very nice, so I bought those too.  Also bought some blue shoes.

Also got a red bag, I love matchy!  The shoes were only £14 and are quite comfortable.

Same shoes in blue and blue bag.

The bags were from Shoe Mad  in Arnold, only £15 each.  They have some good prices on shoes and bags.

Walk away dress

After seeing the walk away dress on the Great British Sewing Bee I just had to make it...

The pattern is Butterick B4790.  I think the pattern they used on Sewing Bee had been adapted slightly because the pattern I have doesn't have the buttons and loops on the front fastening.  I used press studs.  

There are a lot of alterations on my dress.  The bodice part of the pattern is too long so I took it up on the shoulders and had to slightly alter the size of the armhole area on the front bodice part.  The back neck is too low so I raised that.  The front neck gaped so I put two pleats on each side of the front neck line.  I decided not to put the bias binding down the front opening as I thought it made the dress look a bit like an apron.  Because my waist is rather large I also added two inches to both sides of the front where it meets and also on the underneath sheath part where that meets at the back.  This allowed for the extra size of my waist and for a hem instead of the bias binding.  I do think that it is best to make sure that it fits really well at the waist as this will stop the back part of the wrap around pulling down, there is a lot of weight on the wrap around.

I've not worn the dress for more than fitting and taking the picture so I'm not sure how it will feel and behave whilst on the move, I have heard bad reports of it bunching up when moving, we'll see.

Having to do all the alterations took up time so I didn't find this a quick or easy dress to make.  I am pleased I made it though and I think it looks nice.