So size does matter after all...

Another important lesson in my sewing journey, just because the pieces are all 'your' size doesn't mean the dress will actually fit when you've finished it! I'm new to this sewing lark, as you all know, and though I've heard briefly of such things as making the garment in muslin first so you can make adjustments before you even start on the real thing, it's not something I've yet partaken in. It takes me long enough to make the real deal let alone a dummy version! But having just got near to the end of the dress that I've been working on and putting it on and discovering it's too big, I can sort of see the point now!

The dress in question is the grey viscose number using a pattern from 'Sew' magazine, I posted previously about this dress and my issues with the collar. Well I've spent the evening sewing my little heart out, I've learnt how to apply bias binding and I got to the point where it was all sewn and all that was left was the zip and the skirt hem. So I decided to try it on, see how it looks. I look in the mirror and am presented with this:

I guess the only words to describe it are long and shapeless! And this is supposedly the short version of the dress, but it still comes well below the knee for me. The armholes are too big, the neckline is too big and it's rather roomy around the back! The irony is that when I measured myself at the beginning my bust came out as a size 12 and my hips a 16 (I'm usually a 10-12 on the high street) but I decided to just make a solid 12 anyway, which I'm rather glad about now or I'd have a whole lot more adjusting to do! The dress is also made out of fabric from another dress and getting the pattern pieces on was a squeeze, so I've spent a lot of time worrying about how the dress would be too small and sewing smaller seam allowances to make up for some of the pattern pieces not quite fitting. Turns out I needn't have worried! I did comment when I saw the pattern pieces that they looked 'bloody enormous' - trust your gut instinct people! So I called in the experts (read: my mum) and suggested that it probably doesn't need a zip since it's too big and it's stretchy viscose t-shirty material and she's helped me pin it so it fits a bit better!

Tomorrow is another day and a day of taking the dress in at the seams and making it a lot shorter! But at least I won't have to mess about with the zip foot! There's a silver lining to every cloud...

I will be back soon with (hopefully) a better looking dress which looks more like what I imagined and less like a grey potato sack! :-)