WIP: Georgia, maxi dress.
Hello, hello!!
Guess who caught the maxi dress sewing bug again? ME!!
Melbourne is warming up and the thought of wearing jeans is making me sweat! Was crying at the gym on Saturday cos I wore tights and was wishing I was in shorts instead. It's certainly heating up. I'm so excited for summer :)
This time last year, I made a couple of maxi dresses (strapless McCall's 6349 and a frankenpattern) but those two dresses don't get much wear; mostly cos of fitting issues. Damn you, small boobs.
The maxi dresses that get the most wear are my BHL Anna dresses (pink floral and spotty). The Georgia maxidress only got to go out in the wild for the second time on Saturday!!!! I have this *thing* where I will make a dress for a specific occasion... then I will never wear the dress again. So silly. I need to get over that.
I was in a really good mood on Saturday cos my football team, Hawthorn, was playing in the AFL Grand Final (and they WON!!!) and I had dinner plans with one of my gal pals, Ling (Six Inch Heel) at one of those restaurants that are too cool to take reservations.
Photos of my OOTD/N and dinner etc are on my Instagram, but here is a pic from the game on Saturday; this photo broke my heart because my favourite player is Buddy Franklin (23), and he now plays for Sydney Swans.
The Swans got smashed by Hawks (final score: Hawks 137, Swans 74).
(original photo source: unknown, found it RT'd/regrammed on the internet)
It was a beautiful 28c degrees, so I decided to wear something 'summery' to dinner.
As soon as I put my Georgia maxi dress on, I was in love with the pattern all over again. I decided that I would sew another one in cotton later that night after dinner.
Sewing didn't happen that night cos I was to buggered, plus I didn't turn my washing machine on so the fabric didn't prewash while I was out, omg.
Sunday, I made sure the washing machine was turned on, went out for breakfast and errands, came home and started on my second Georgia maxi dress.
I usually work on the bodice first when I sew a dress, but this time I started with the skirt cos it was the easy and boring part of this dress.
Pin, sew, overlock; repeat.
After 1 hour of cutting, and 1 hour of sewing; we have a skirt!
The prepping didn't take long as the pattern was already traced.
My small bust adjustment was already transferred on to the pattern so it was a stress free session.
The cutting took one hour. The skirt took another hour to put together, this included overlocking the raw edges.
TIP: remember to stay-stitch the waist :)
The bodice is self-lined, so I had to cut each piece out twice. Cotton voile is so beautiful to work with.
For the shoulder straps, I stitched them with some cotton tape to stabilise the seam and to stop it from stretching.
Seam allowance: roughly 0.5cm, want to keep the straps wide.
Using cotton tape on the shoulder straps.
I used to struggle with joining the bodice to the skirt at the centre front, where the "V" peak is. Practice makes perfect, follow BHL's sewalong (part #7) and you will ace it in no time.
I still struggle with the joining the back, and will be redoing the centre back seam. I forgot to "snip" into the SA so I could open up and pivot the fabric.
LOVE the BHL instructions and sewalongs. Very, very helpful.
Use all the pins.
After 5 hours, I ended up with this gorgeous, pink dress. I was on a roll and could have finished the whole dress last night, but I still had chores to do around the house... I never got around to them cos I was busy meal prepping for the week. Need a maid.
I have Ling's birthday dinner this weekend, and lunch with my food blogger bestie, Libby (The Very, Very Hungry Caterpillar) so I am motivated to finish the dress during the week; as long as The Bachelor doesn't get in the way.
All that's left to do is:
- redo centre back waist seam
- size zipper (left side)
- side seam (left)
- hand sew lining to shell
- hem
I'll pin it all up and see how I go ;)
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