I can’t leave well enough alone

So…you know how I said in my last post that I was walking away from the birthday dress? I lied. I mean, I meant to walk away from it, but then it was just sitting in my sewing room making me feel guilty…and it continues to do so because it’s taken me FOREVER to get this post up!

So I decided to try my hand at turning it into an empire waist dress and see if that fixed all the issues with it. The short answer is an emphatic NO. I used the pieces from KS3199 to get the length correct on the bodice, which worked quite well, actually, but it let a few more worms out of that can.

• Firstly, I forgot to take into account that the pockets would need to be lowered. So after I put them in and they were too high, I picked them out and just sewed the side seams shut. I’m lazy, sorry. Plus they just kind of showed through, so probably not a big loss.
• Secondly, the dress is just too damn big. Everywhere. The proportions were all wrong for me. I love that collar/neckline, and I think I’m going to try to use it again somewhere, but it wasn’t sized for me. And that’s OK, I was pretty sure I’m not plus-sized, but this helped firm that in my mind.
• Lastly, the skirt. In the magazine, it looks like a fairly slim skirt. In reality, it’s not. It’s actually more of an a-line shape. I don’t feel like a-line/circle-ish skirts are flattering to me. They look good on everyone else, but I honestly feel like a slim straight or pencil skirt is the best silhouette for me. No idea why.

Someone will look gorgeous in this, right?!

Pretty perfect topstitching if I don’t say so myself. And I do. 😉

Such a cute little cuff!

This neckline is a thing of beauty.

It is finished though. I took care to do a good job on the topstitching and such so that whomever ends up with it will get a lot of wear out of it. I’m planning to donate it to charity as soon as I find some buttons and get the buttonholes sewn. I thought it seemed like a waste for all that work to end up in the trash or made into something else, and if it fit, I think it would be absolutely stunning. So, I’m telling myself there’s going to be someone out there who is going to wear it out on a date or something and look fabulous. 🙂