Turtles and apples and squiggly circles

Way back in 2010 I made up Butterick 4513, a re-released 1950’s pattern. And ever since then, I’ve meant to make it again. Well, it took four years, but I finally got around to it, thanks to the Sewing Double challenge!

It’s a crazy-easy pattern to make, with a total of four pieces – front and back skirt, front and back bodice. Four darts, some elastic at the back, and you’re done. Voila!

Back when I first made it, I was a good little girl and just followed the instructions. I used a grey quilting cotton with red squiggly circles printed on it, and red bias binding for the neckline, armholes and shoulder straps.

And even though I was convinced I did a blog post about it at the time, I can’t find it anywhere, or any decent photos of it, so here’s a bad photo of it from Me Made May back in 2011. (Heck knows why I”m looking so grumpy, sorry ’bout that.)

This time ’round, I thought I’d make some changes. Firstly, some fit changes. I moved the bust darts across and lowered the points so that they sit in the right place (I always find dart points end too high on me, above the nipple, so this is a pretty common alteration these days). I also raised the waistline a bit as it was a bit too low on me in the original pattern and shortened the skirt by about 16cm.

And because I fully intend to wear this dress all during winter with a long-sleeved merino top underneath and a cardigan over top (just like in my photo of the original grey dress above!) I did a simple fold-under 1cm hem on the neck and armhole edges, and made wide, flat shoulder straps instead of using bias binding so it sits flat under cardigans and coats.

I am in love with this dress. Such an easy style to make and wear, it’s been in high rotation since I finished making it.

Want to know a bit more about it? Head on over to my blog. (There’s a little surprise on the original post, too! 😉 )