pastille pt. 3: finished!

i have to admit, when i first saw this dress as one of the patterns in the colette patterns handbook, it wasn't my favorite. maybe it was the pastel color scheme that doesn't really suit me or just my own limited imagination. at any rate, i had some fabric i had bought for super cheap and decided to give this dress a shot. i started to really notice the feminine details: the curvy neckline, the tucks, the cap sleeves and thought: wait. that's exactly what i need in a dress. plus, i had red fabric. red. everyone needs a red dress. sometimes my projects just decide themselves.

in my last post i showed how to maneuver the zipper and lining and facings to make everything nice and tidy. i love insides i can be proud of! i'm a sewing nerd, i know...


so, let's go over the details, shall we? my material is a cotton rayon blend with a twill weave. while the material is medium weight, the weave is a little loose. to keep everything in place, i underlined the bodice in a purple cotton broadcloth. this really helped while sewing to keep everything lined up. the skirt is lined with the same material as my underlining.

the innards: pre zipper and pre tacking down of facing.
the facings for this dress are crazy unruly beasts!

as far as the pattern alterations went, i graded from a 0 at the shoulder out to a 4 at the waist. then i butchered the bodice to pieces (reducing it to a mere shadow of its former self) doing an sba like this.


on the back bodice piece, i cut the whole thing a size 0 (size 4 in length though) and reduced the waist dart so that my waist measurement was still the same as the size 4. i also did a slight swayback adjustment, removing a 1/4" wedge out of the back. nothing as major as i have seen in so many people's versions though!

i cut a size 4 skirt and added 1" above the hip as my waist to hip measurement is longer than average. this also helped bring the hem down to a better length for me.


this is really one of the best fitting dresses i've made. i could mess around a little with the shoulder because that is the one place where the fit isn't perfect. it's also something that i can alter without a major undoing of stitches.

now, as i mentioned on my macaron dress, i think i have weird shoulders. since this is just a cap sleeve it isn't bothersome, but i can tell that i may need more material to reach my shoulder in the back, and less toward the front. it's as if i need to rotate the armscythe forward half an inch or so. does this adjustment have a name? i really don't know.

i am so pleased with how this dress turned out. it was a snap to sew up, i only spent a couple days working on it. and by days, i mean naptimes and an hour or two in the evenings. so, don't let some of the mixed reviews on the fitting of this dress throw you off. give this one a try, it's perfect for spring. and yes, it's finally spring!

• pastille pt. 1: fitting & muslin
• pastille pt. 2: the zipper & lining maneuver

—lisa g