Summer Essentials Sew-Along: The Sundress 1
Traditionally, I´ve been a skirt-sewing gal. I have made a million skirts, and when Me-Made-May came around I found that I really didn´t have much else, so now I´m sewing up mostly tops and dresses (although I can´t resist Beignet, and it is already cut…).
The latest result of this is Simplicity 2362, or the Emerald Sundress, as I like to call it. This pattern was fairly easy to read, but as the last dress project was Ceylon – a dream to sew up – the anticlimax that came when sewing up this was bound to happen.
I made view E of this. From the back view of this dress, it seems that view E is not supposed to have a zipper, and the pattern for E includes elastics for the back, so I came to the conclusion that a zipper was not needed. BUT, while reading the pattern, there is nothing that says that the zipper is to be excluded. Confusing. I skipped it anyway, as this is supposed to be one of those dresses I can just throw on when the weather is hot.
I love the front of this dress. I really like the pockets, the pleats on the bodice and those on the front skirt. These details is what drew me to this dress in the first place.What I don´t like, is the pleats in the back . There are two rather large pleats in the back as well, causing my rather stiff thrifted cotton fabric to create a not-so flattering shape in the back (I didn´t even include a pic of this- that´s how bad it is;-)). The back pleats would probably look better with a fabric with more draping, so if I´m making this again I will use a more suitable fabric, or I´ll skip the pleats all together, and perhaps make some darts in the back instead.
All in all, I´m fairly content, this is a dress I probably will use a lot, because it is easy to dress up and down, and I can wear it both to work and to the beach, but if I will make it again, I´ll make a better choice of fabric, and adjust the back to be more flattering for my shape.
Such a pretty colour. I love those dresses that you can just throw on, too. Unfortunately it’s winter here at the moment so I have a whole lot of time to wait before I can justify making one. Otherwise Self-Stitched-September will roll around, it’ll still be chilly out, and all I’ll have to wear will be summer dresses 🙂
Thanks. I am starting to worry a bit about September myself, as I´ve gone for the full version this time (I did a lighter one in May), and I think I have, for much to long, ignored the fact that September is in fact autumn here in Scandinavia, and can be beyond chilly….so really, I should stop making summer dresses and start working on a coat or two instead…:-)
I love this dress! The color and style suit you well!
Very pretty! I’m starting to fret about self-stitched September too. All my plans for summer sewing have been thwarted by cold weather. It’s July 1 and I’m sitting here in a wool sweater. Grr.