I've wanted a shirtdress for a while now (like the Colette Hawthorn and the Sew Over it vintage shirt dress) but they are all intimidatingly tagged as intermediate or advanced.
But when I came across the Cami dress by Pauline Alice, which was very cheap as far as sewing patterns go and involved only printing 14 pages, I decided to give it a go. I figured I could brave an intermediate pattern if I don't rush and just carefully work each step. My fabric was also pretty cheap so it wouldn't seem like such a huge loss if I messed it up.
And I don't think my attempt is that bad for someone who has been sewing for only a year! I love the colour and the fit of the bodice from the front - the back has my usual pooling of fabric, which I think I should finally try and sort out next time I make a dress. Its not as bad as usual though because I made the shoulders one size smaller than the chest and waist, which helped a bit. The waist could have been a little smaller too, it was not as fitted as I had hoped so I increased my seam allowances further to tighten it up a bit.
I had to make some crazy, thrifty pattern placement when cutting as I discovered that I didn't have quite enough fabric. I ended up cutting the pockets from a different fabric, but the collar was a bit of an accident. Essentially I was being my usual self and not reading the instructions properly so I didn't see that I had to cut two of each collar pattern piece. By the time I realised, I had thrown away the tiny scraps I had left over so I had to use a bit of an old duvet cover. We are going to pretend that this was a design decision though!
I suppose what makes shirtdresses not friendly to beginners is the collar and the buttonholes/button placket. But to be honest, they were not that hard. I had already done buttonholes for the Arielle skirts, and although I got a bit confused with what I was meant to do with the collar, Pauline Alice's instructions and a video I found on youtube were very informative, so it all worked out fine.
Where I had real trouble was gathering and attaching the skirt to the bodice. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster, as my gathers were not even so it looked like I had a huge hump on my right hip. I ripped it and tried again, and I am still not 100% happy with them and I can't work out whether it is my technique or the skirt just doesn't really suit me. I like it a lot with the belt but I think it looks a bit weird without it and that's because of the shirt. So next time I make this I think I am either going to make a less voluminous skirt or switch to a circle skirt or an A-line skirt.
The zipper was another disaster. I haven't had great success with zippers so far, and this wasn't helped by the fact that the zipper I bought doesn't have teeth on the inside, which meant I had to attach it from the outside, and it kept moving around and just being annoying. The fact that this was a side zipper complicated matters further, as I had never done one before. I intend to try and do it again, and possibly even replace it with an invisible zipper (no idea I didn't use an invisible zipper in the first place, definitely next time!)
All in all though I am very happy with it. When I was trying to decide whether to make it or not I looked at all the blogs I could find to work out whether I would be able to do it but all the bloggers were quite experienced (and thus could not offer this info). So if you have come across this post and are an adventurous beginner trying to decide whether to make this, I say go for it!
But when I came across the Cami dress by Pauline Alice, which was very cheap as far as sewing patterns go and involved only printing 14 pages, I decided to give it a go. I figured I could brave an intermediate pattern if I don't rush and just carefully work each step. My fabric was also pretty cheap so it wouldn't seem like such a huge loss if I messed it up.
 |
| And it has pockets! |
And I don't think my attempt is that bad for someone who has been sewing for only a year! I love the colour and the fit of the bodice from the front - the back has my usual pooling of fabric, which I think I should finally try and sort out next time I make a dress. Its not as bad as usual though because I made the shoulders one size smaller than the chest and waist, which helped a bit. The waist could have been a little smaller too, it was not as fitted as I had hoped so I increased my seam allowances further to tighten it up a bit.
I had to make some crazy, thrifty pattern placement when cutting as I discovered that I didn't have quite enough fabric. I ended up cutting the pockets from a different fabric, but the collar was a bit of an accident. Essentially I was being my usual self and not reading the instructions properly so I didn't see that I had to cut two of each collar pattern piece. By the time I realised, I had thrown away the tiny scraps I had left over so I had to use a bit of an old duvet cover. We are going to pretend that this was a design decision though!
I suppose what makes shirtdresses not friendly to beginners is the collar and the buttonholes/button placket. But to be honest, they were not that hard. I had already done buttonholes for the Arielle skirts, and although I got a bit confused with what I was meant to do with the collar, Pauline Alice's instructions and a video I found on youtube were very informative, so it all worked out fine.
Where I had real trouble was gathering and attaching the skirt to the bodice. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster, as my gathers were not even so it looked like I had a huge hump on my right hip. I ripped it and tried again, and I am still not 100% happy with them and I can't work out whether it is my technique or the skirt just doesn't really suit me. I like it a lot with the belt but I think it looks a bit weird without it and that's because of the shirt. So next time I make this I think I am either going to make a less voluminous skirt or switch to a circle skirt or an A-line skirt.
 |
| Belt-less and a bit weird? |
The zipper was another disaster. I haven't had great success with zippers so far, and this wasn't helped by the fact that the zipper I bought doesn't have teeth on the inside, which meant I had to attach it from the outside, and it kept moving around and just being annoying. The fact that this was a side zipper complicated matters further, as I had never done one before. I intend to try and do it again, and possibly even replace it with an invisible zipper (no idea I didn't use an invisible zipper in the first place, definitely next time!)
All in all though I am very happy with it. When I was trying to decide whether to make it or not I looked at all the blogs I could find to work out whether I would be able to do it but all the bloggers were quite experienced (and thus could not offer this info). So if you have come across this post and are an adventurous beginner trying to decide whether to make this, I say go for it!
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