As in quick – not!
Sometime ago I bought this white and grey polka dotted linen/cotton mix in Spotlight and I thought that Simplicity 9221 might be a nice pattern for it.
I’m not sure how this pattern finished up in my stash – it either came from my Mother or one of my sister’s many forays into the op-shops. Either way, I was seduced by the word “Jiffy” and the 2 or 3 main pattern pieces spruiked on the envelope. I think there is a case for misleading advertising!
The pattern I have is a size 10 MP (bust 32 1/2). I held the pattern against me and it looked ok, so I merrily cut it out and began stitching.
First issue: I hadn’t thought that spots needed matching, but of course they are just like a stripe. I was across this (kind of) when I did the cutting out, BUT, there is a shaped seam right down the front and no matter what I did I could not make the dots look nice.
Second issue: the neckline is very sharp – it has facings and everything needs to line up perfectly to look any good. This is time consuming for a dodgy sewist such as myself.
Third issue: I decided to add pockets. Not a massive problem, except, I had to fiddle one of the side seams to align the dots so one of the pockets went all weird. Major unpicking ensued.
Fourth issue: the darts were designed for someone with a bustline up near their ears (not to be too indelicate here, but I don’t have this particular malformation). Major unpicking ensued. I dropped the bust darts by a good 2 inches and then refashioned the long side darts so they finished a lot lower.
I did a better job of the dots at the back, but only just!
Several hours later and I was done. I quite like the design. It is relatively fitted, I love the way those side darts disappear into the pockets, but I am not at all happy with the dots down the front of the dress.
The details:
Pattern is Simplicity 9221 – a vintage pattern from 1971
Fabric is white and grey polka dot linen/cotton mix from Spotlight
Shoes are Guglielmo Rotta from Soletta Shoes, Mt Hawthorn.
Just a quick note here: I’m in Sydney but am a bit behind in my blogs. I will be blogging what I get up to here, but be warned – Tessuti’s will be featuring!
Looks great Sue – you are looking very sedate in this little number.
hehe! Never sedate!!
I wouldn’t have thought about matching the dots either, Sue. Still I’m only looking because you’ve drawn attention to them, LOL. I think the fabric is well matched to the pattern, giving clean crisp lines and a cool look. Great match with the shoes too. What would you do different next time, if you were to repeat the style?
Not sure how I will change this, but I bet I do make it again so we shall see – I won’t use spots or stripes though!
Love this dress…Looks great…but don’t you just hate those patterns that look deceptively simple and turn out to be fiddly as hell!!
certainly do hate anything that is fiddly!
oops, previous reply by me makes no sense as I had moved on to next dress! Yes, this one was a dreadful fiddle and was very annoying.
We sewers are always so critical of our sewing. Sorry, but I quite like the dress and I think a big necklace down the center front, (maybe a scarf?) quite solves the problem. I like the “Mod, Carnaby Street/ Mary Quant vibes! It looks really cute on you! Check out more ready to wear & you will realize that only verrrrrry expensive clothes worry about print placement.