Made! - Butterick 5814

I almost forgot why I started focusing on more casual sewing projects, but now I remember...

Photo taken post-shower but pre-makeup. Deal with it. 

This dress, (#3 on my fall/winter sewing bucket list), came out ok, but only after waaaaaaay too much finagling.  Made a bodice muslin, made a few small adjustments, but was prepared to still take it in, considering how tight it needed to be. Despite my preparation, though, I had issues.

It all started when I noticed that there was no line included to lengthen or shorten the torso.  Those of you that have read any of my posts know that I ALWAYS have to lengthen the torso.  Maybe there should have been an obvious fix?? I'm a self-taught seamstress, so perhaps that's the problem.

Regardless of which problem you choose, that was problem number 1.

Problem number 2 came along when I realized (too late, I might add) that I forgot to lengthen one of the pieces and ended up with a front lining piece (with boning attached) that was an inch too short. GUH. 

In spite of those things, this dress came out ok.

I underlined the entire thing, mostly due to the fact that any and all boning should be underlined. duh
Here are some pretty pictures of the underlining process. You see, at this point, I hadn't realized problem number 2 and was really proud of myself for putting so much preparation into this dress.

Underlined with grey lining fabric. I used slippery rayon thread -- super easy to remove later on. 

Each piece in its underlined glory. 

I messed with the sleeves on this dress for a while. From the pattern photo, they should be a bit off the shoulder...

But, I wonder how much of that is on purpose and how much is because the sample didn't actually fit the model as well as it should. Regardless, I changed the angle of my sleeves to be more on top of my shoulder because I'm not into a spontaneous "wardrobe malfunction."

The wrinkle at the right sleeve is extra fabric for movement. Yay!

Note the more vertical sleeves in my version.

 The above picture shows you the crazy system of pleats in the front of the dress. The front flappy thing hides the curved pleats in the skirt, while the beauty of the bodice relies on them.  Though it wasn't in the instructions, I ended up tacking the right bodice to the left at all point of the wrap, which achieved a snug, secure, yet supported fit at the bust.  I was really careful not to over-pull as I was stitching. That, coupled with the forgiving dark navy color, and it looks great!

The back:

The side: (I hate the way this dress looks from the side.)

The cute little black kitten:

Yeah. Our cat had 6 kittens. As a dog person, this is interesting.

In terms of making this dress again, I would. But it's gonna have to be a while. 

This first try I already graded from a size 10 up top to a 12 on the bottom, and I took in the bodice another inch! This put me smaller than the size 6! What? And I need more room on the bottom. (HIPS) So I should grade from a 6 to a 14?  I like to sew, but... grading across 5 sizes? Seems like either: 1 - I cut the wrong size pieces, or 2 - the pattern isn't meant for my body type and I should just let it go.

We'll see.