Simplicity made complicated

I hope you're all having a wonderful long weekend wherever you are. In an almost unheard of run of good weather in Scotland there was blazing sunshine on two consecutive days! It was truly glorious on Saturday and Sunday and I made sure to spend as much time outside as possible. On Friday evening however, I was inside cutting out yet another dress pattern and today on Monday it was windy and rainy, hence perfect sewing weather. I know I'll be going back to work tomorrow feeling relaxed and refreshed and with a new addition to my wardrobe.

On a recent thrift store trawl with my fellow bissum Marion I happened upon an original 1974 Simplicity Pattern (number 6764) for a really simple and cute dress, I think it cost the princely sum of 50p. I say simple, and it mostly was, except for the fact that it would require me to climb my own personal sewing Everest: putting in sleeves *pause for dramatic gasp*. I would be lying if I didn't say there was a fair number of curse words being used at the point of easing the sleeves in (by the way, the use of the word 'easing' in connection with sewing sleeves is completely inappropriate and lulls the unsuspecting sewer into a false sense of relaxation and confidence). After a fair amount of unpicking and re-sewing the sleeves were eventually attached at I can proudly tick that off my first-time list.
 


I also decided to get clever by adding a peter pan collar to the dress and patch pockets. The air positively turned blue when I was attempting to attach the collar but as always, I got there in the end and I'm reasonably satisfied with the result. I drafted the collar pattern by using the two pattern pieces for the front and back neck facing and that way it fitted perfectly. It also meant I could skip attaching the neck facing.

My Cath Kidston collar

I drafted my own pattern for the pockets and used a decorative box stitch to attach them. I also varied the pattern by cutting the front piece on the fold rather than in two separate parts to avoid the join. After cutting the pattern out I realised it was far too long and lopped a good couple of inches off the bottom. You need to be a little careful if you're doing this on a dress with flare like mine was. Cutting straight across the bottom is a no-no. You need to keep a slight upward curve at the side seams.

My patch pocket

The thing I really liked about this pattern was the shaping. It has two bust darts at the front and at the back it has shoulder darts, along with two more in the middle of the back, either side of the zip. The main fabric is a super soft cotton in a sweet candy pink colour and came from an old bed sheet. The contrast fabric is from a piece of sacred and much-loved Cath Kidston fabric which my favourite Aunt Isabel bought for my birthday a couple of years ago. I'm such a tightwad when it comes to using it that thus far it's only been cut into for the smallest projects, like this collar. The pink in it perfectly matches the main fabric though so it was a good choice. I finished the collar with an old grey/blue button.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed making this dress and would definitely attempt it again. I'd make the body slightly smaller next time though and make the pockets bigger. I'd also be tempted to place the zip at the side rather than down the back.

Happy crafting fellow bissums!
xx