It is yet again almost time for the next event on my work calendar. This year, I started on time! The deadline for this was mid-June, but I managed to finish it before the end of May! It certainly felt like an accomplishment. The inspiration for this project came about from seeing this pin on Pinterest of a white dress with an overlay at the bodice and a blue edge around the overlay and the hem of the dress.
What I ended up with doesn’t look like the pin at all, but it was heavily inspired by it – don’t ask how my brain works. I found the pattern of a dress with a bodice overlay in Simplicity Sewing Pattern magazine nr. 42, model 18-20, also known as Simplicity 8047, and I really liked it. The pin came into play when I decided I could add a border to the overlay and the hem of the dress. So off to the hoard I went to find fabric. One of the boxes yielded this blue opaque fabric and some white and blue dotted stuff, neither of these I remember buying, so I assume they came from a friend’s de-stash.
I used the markings for the short length and made extra pattern pieces for the dotted band. I chose to cut the size 38 which was a mistake. I had to take the underdress in massively in the bodice, several centimeters at center front and added extra darts in the back neckline. This also lead to some real challenges with the overlay, where I had to take a bunch out at the side seams and wasn’t entirely sure how to even get the neckline and sleeves to behave. After having it sit on the mannequin in desperation for some weeks, I persevered and got something that looked pretty decent.
Of course, event outfits require pockets. While the skirt isn’t tight per se, there is not enough room for bulky items in the pockets to remain invisible. But alas, we carry on. The weather was still dreadful and so cold that I had to wear a layer extra over the dress in order to be warm enough to function. Nevertheless, it did behave well on the day so I’m pretty pleased.
