Spurred on by #bpsewvember's UFO prompt, I finished my long-neglected Sylvie dress! Thanks for the push, Amanda!
This baby, the Christine Haynes Sylvie dress, has been languishing in my sewing area for months, making me feel guilty, so I am thrilled to have it finished. I'm also pretty happy with how it turned out! Bonus: now I have nice summery sundress for my Christmas in Melbourne. Yaaaasssss!
I sewed up View B with the pencil-esque skirt. I love the darts on this pattern, although I will say, there are a lot of them!
6 bust darts + 8 skirt darts + 2 back bodice darts = 16! Whoa.They sew up quickly, though.
I was treating this version as a wearable muslin of sorts, using some inexpensive cotton blend of some sort that I bought locally. I liked the color and little pindots. In retrospect, it might be kind of a high maintenance fabric choice as it wrinkles really easily and resists a pressing, as you can see:
When I basted the dress together to check the fit, I had some extra fabric at the center back above the waistband, so I did a small swayback adjustment on the back bodice (I think it was about 1" from the center, taping to nothing at the side seams). Since it was so long ago that I cut this out and I am too lazy to dig out my pattern, I can't quite remember what size I chose. Based on the size chart, I probably went with a 14 on top and 16 on bottom.
I think perhaps I could use a small FBA for the next one, as it fees a bit tight across the bust.
I wanted to move the zipper to the side seam because I find them easier to zip up there. Plus, that way my arm hides my crappy zipper insertion. I kinda suck at zippers. But the back seam is curved and I wasn't sure how to deal with that in order to eliminate that seam, so I just kept the zipper in the back as is. The reason this dress was a UFO for so long is because I broke the first invisible zipper I sewed in. Arg! The thought of unpicking it was apparently so daunting to me that I just let it sit there, 85% complete for 4 months. So lazy. It took all of 5 minutes to unpick!
I'm not totally enamored of how it's looking in the back. I can't tell if it's fitting issues, the wrinkle-prone fabric, or my terrible zipper insertion (or some combination of the three), but it's a bit lumpy and bumpy back there.
I finished the neckline and arms with store bought bias tape- some pretty floral stuff from Daiso. I ended up finishing the skirt with it, too, to maintain length and also because cute.
Final verdict: I'm really happy with it from the front, although, as I said, the back needs work. Maybe my fabric choice needs work, too. But a cute pattern with lots of potential!
