Sunday 25 January 2015

A Dancing Anna

This was originally the dress that I made for my birthday, but got dumped in favor of the jumpsuit! I finished it off anyway to wear to a burns night dance next Saturday. I have no idea what burns night is or what it involves, so it will be an interesting experience to say the least!
I don't tend to make many indie patterns, because I literally don't fit on their size charts. After months and months of ogling the Anna dress, designed by By Hand London I finally decided that it would be worth adjusting and asked for it for Christmas. It turned out that I quite liked how it around the bust area so in the end I left it as is, just lowering the neckline a tad.
I drafted a circle skirt for the bottom half, because I thought that would be better for dancing using the By Hand London circle skirt app. It turned out pretty short, so I'll lengthen that next time! In terms of the insides, I didn't line it because the lining would make it too hot while dancing (I really thought about this!) and instead made bias binding out of the same fabric for the sleeves and neckline. The seams are overlocked and the hem was overlocked, turned under and slip-stitched. 
The fabric was a bit of a devil to work with, as it's a slippery silky kind of fabric that I inherited. It's interesting that it has a twill weave which you normally find on denim and wool fabrics. I'm so glad that I didn't topstitch the binding down, because it would have looked awful. You can still kinda see where I've slip-stitched the binding down which is a shame. 
I tried my best to stop the centre back seam with the zip from puckering by using strips of calico to stabilise it. That didn't work particulaly well either. Maybe I should interface it next time? It was a tad too windy for photos today! Just as well I wasn't in public!
Anyway, I am pleased with the dress, even with puckering issues and I will have great fun wearing it (with shorts) to burns night. 
Thanks for reading and to Ed for taking photos,
Lauren xx