cat lady

My musical disco cat fabric has turned into a dress. Hurray!

The only major (lol, get it?) change I made from my previous dresses was the skirt. I used the box pleats from the original pattern but changed the tulip shape to a straight A-line as I feel it's more "me" and practical. I'm massively in love with the box pleats; I think they're fun and incredibly flattering.

Originally I was going to add elbow length sleeves but after three failed sleeve toiles I had to admit defeat. I've always been self conscious of the fact I have chunkier than average upper arms (I won a gold medal in shot put when I was 11, gun-tastic) which my mum says is nonsense as I'm slim, but three failed sleeves attempts don't lie!

Ah well, I'll get more use out of a sleeveless dress as it's easier to wear with cardigans and everybody who knows me knows how much I love cardigans (they cover the guns...) but I'll need to read up on sleeve fitting as it's something I'm pretty clueless on.

Other changes included very slightly curving out the neckline (originally it's slightly v shaped) and remembering to understitch the neckline. Go me! It does make a difference to how the neckline sits, so hurray for no more peeping lining. I also only lined the bodice as the fabric was thick enough to do without under the skirt.


Thank you to Susan C. who commented on my last dress post and suggested cotton voile as a lining fabric instead of slippery dress lining. Although I couldn't find any late notice at my local fabric shop I found a cream poly-something fabric which feels more breathable and was much better behaved to sew with. I will definitely look for a cotton voile for my next dress project though.

So that's it, dress number 3 completed just in time for my cousin's wedding last week (and very quickly photographed!) I toyed with the idea of going bare-legged as it was warm, but came to the conclusion that people probably wouldn't cope with the glare from my glowing white arms *and* legs.

Now what to do with my remaining metre of fabric since I didn't add sleeves... I might be able to squeak a skirt from it.