Can't Say Strawberry

When I decided to undertake a version of Modcloth’s Night Flurries dress, I thought it would be a fairly simple endeavour, but it’s seemed to be one of those projects which has taken FOREVER.

This was sometime last week, when I pinned all the pieces on Sally to get a feel of the garment. The bottom half is a modified version of Burdastyle’s Marie Skirt while the top is the Contour Bust by Burdastyle member miasu – an oft used combination, and one I’ve used before!

The fabric is a kind of wool tweed, if that’s even the right way to describe it! It’s quite soft and drapey, and is a dream to sew. Initially, I had worries that I’d need a serger for this fabric, but I’ve been on top form with finishing this time round! It’s amazing what a difference pressing and finishing your seams can make – you’re told it time and time again, but it’s not until you actually do it religiously that you realise what you’ve been missing out on! I remember back on my first time with a pattern, the Marie skirt coincidentally, and I didn’t iron it at all…

Honestly, I was so proud of my work, I was even tempted to take a picture of the inside of the lining and shell, just to show off, like a small child running to their parents with their latest crayon masterpiece, but I am very proud. It makes me glad I haven’t deleted some of the monstrosities on my Burdastyle account, mostly because I can look back and see how far I’ve come.

Less pride, more construction detail! Miasu’s instructions don’t include lining, but I decided to include it:

With the floral from Sally’s First Date, of course! Couldn’t resist, I’m a floral girl at heart. So happy to have conquered the dreaded understitch (almost, love the fact that it’s just not that straight haha), I don’t quite understand why I couldn’t get my head around it for so long. The Sally’s First Date dress actually doesn’t have understitching and it’s noticeable when worn, so I’ll fix that someday.

The tiring parts of this project have been the straps, due to many mistakes I kept having to start over, and the skirt. I’ve changed the skirt up so the pleats are a little closer to how they are on the Marie since taking the first photo. I need to just grit my teeth and get it finished, especially as I have Colette Pattern’s Macaron dress on the way.

I’d like to just point you guys to The Selfish Seamstress, a witty sewing blog by Burdastyle’s elainemay. She recently wrote about her Anthropologie-inspired dress, the Parity Dress, which was the whole reason I decided to have a go at the Modcloth dress in the first place. Her creation is gorgeous, as are all her sewing endeavours, and her writing style is really engaging and funny, not to mention her sewing Haikus!