A Fancy Frocktober with Marfy 3920

 

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been able to participate in the Monthly Stitch challenge. I really like the idea of sewing challenges, but I keep finding myself challenged enough by the wardrobe elements I’m trying to nail down that I rarely get around to participating.

But this Frocktober happily coincides with an October wedding we had. That was a great reason to pull out this Marfy 3920 pattern that I fever-bought, and then followed up with a purchase of this Jason Wu silk from Mood. Both pattern and fabric worked really well, and worked well together.

The drafting is really something to behold: this is a sheath with a billowy top that narrows around the high hip and forms a straight skirt. That’s a tough shape to get to lay nicely on the body, but the single sleeve does a lot of the work to add in fullness on the top portion without compromising the hang of the skirt. Here’s the line drawing:

These details are a bit lost in the drawing but really – the drafting is awesome.  See the slim skirt despite the full top here:

I used a size 42. My Marfy measurements are a little closer to a 44, but I actually found that size a little roomy in the shoulders when I made this coat. So I went down to the 42 since this needed to fit the upper chest and shoulders well, and made a generous full bust adjustment of three inches — though the asymmetrical bodice made this a little more complicated than usual. I also added one inch of wearing ease (1/4” to all side seams) in the skirt after my muslin felt a bit tight.

That worked really well, and I’m really pleased with how the dress turned out overall. I love the riff on the off-the-shoulder and gathered top trend it’s much less peasant-top-y than many versions I’ve seen.

This dress was also pretty simple to make; the highest hurdle is the lack of instructions. I won’t bore everyone with step-by-step details here, but I wrote out my construction order over on my blog, Wasted Weekends, since Marfy dresses don’t come with instructions. A few extra details and notes — including the FBA hack — there as well!