Hey Guys!
I have literally been trying to get my act together to post for Indie Sewing Month for years and I’m so excited to finally be doing it!! As the title of the post might lead you to believe, I took the By Hand London Anna Dress and stuck my own self drafted pencil skirt on it. I had to do a little arranging to get my darts and side seams to line up to Anna’s but all in all it wasn’t too tough. I also got super complicated with some stripe manipulation, using medium weight soft cotton shirting but unfortunately in the end I think all that unstable bias led to like thousands of wrinkles. To be fair to my fabric as well though, this was also my first time using this pattern … and in general this company, and there could just be some legit fitting issues. After all not all blocks and people are created equal. For example, I know I’ll definitely have to move the side seams if I attempt this again. They’re waaay too far forward on me. I matched my skirt sloper to them and you can literally see the side seams when you face me straight on. Again, the stripes don’t help this either. Bah!
Not going to lie, it’s kind of frustrating after all the stripe matching energy I put into this. I guess I certainly learned my lesson though. Soft fabric + bias + structure = No. Just no. Also… muslins. Always muslin. (I’m also open to suggestions if you think there’s anything else going on here.) With that said, you know what? I fricking put a lot of work into this and I still think it looks good enough to wear to work. Especially if I throw a cardigan on top. So yes, I will be wearing this baby out of the house. Take that wrinkles, you can’t crush my spirit!
Design wise I originally thought I wanted to go for the below the knee sexy-secretary look, but after trying it on I decided that I liked it above the knee better. I think I’m going to call that the southern-sorority-girl look. Lol. I think the stripes are ringing a seersucker bell in my head.
I was also a little short on hem length with the below the knee look and there was something about a nice deep hem that I just realllly wanted for this dress so that helped sway my decision. Finishing wise, the dress is fully lined with a white cotton voile which is how the neckline and arms are finished and I threw a white invisible zip in the back.
All in all I don’t think this was my finest work, but I had #goals to participate in an indie pattern month and I’m glad I finally got to. Hope you all had a great week, and happy Fri-yay!
Kten
PS. If you ever want to come check out my personal blog, all sewing-lovers are welcome in my little part of the internets www.jinxandgunner.blogspot.com
Absolutely love this make and those stripes! I can imagine the perseverance this project took…so worth it!
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Thank you. Yes it definitely took some persistence. 🙂
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I can totally understand the kind of love/hate relationship that comes out of a project like this. If you ever try cutting something like this out on the bias again, stay-stitch all of the seams and use some lightweight interfacing to stabilize the zip. I learned the hard way as well. I made a bias-cut skirt and all of the seams are wavy. 😦 But I think the fact that you matched all of the stripes to create a chevron look definitely distracts from any fitting issues. And, like someone else has told me, anything you make probably fits you way better than anything you could find in a store. So go ahead and rock it!
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Yes! You totally get it Joanne. That’s great advice…I didn’t stabilize the zip because I sewed the lining and face fabric together as one, but maybe that could have helped. And you’re right about the RTW fit as well, I’m always more critical of my own makes than I am of anything from a store.
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I can’t believe how well you have matched those little stripes. I think it’s perfectly wearable.
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Thanks Emma, yea it took a lot of planning in the cutting stage to get all the stripes to match up, and then strictly minding my SAs of course :). It could definitely be better… (wrinkles I’m looking at you), but you’re right still wearable.
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Definitely. I’d be proud of this if I’d done it!! 😁
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what a great dress! I really love it! the fabric is great and it looks really good on you too! I totally admire all your efforts! It turned out great!
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Thank you Barbara. It sure did take a lot of effort!
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I absolutely adore this make! Great hack using beautiful fabric.
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Thank you Abbey 🙂
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Stripes!!😍 You did an awesome job!
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Thank you 🙂
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Fantabulous!
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I think it looks amazing and doing all that stripe matching on the bias too? Wowser. I think it looks fab on you – I only saw good stuff!
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Thanks Miriam. Im glad you liked it 🙂
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I think this looks way better than you think it does! I say wearable muslin for the win. Bet you get lots of comments and feel a million times better about this hack the moment you wear it outside the house. Very adventurous and mad skillz so well done!
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Thanks Naomi. I appreciate the nice comment, you’re right wearble muslins are always a win 🙂
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I am in awe of your stripe matching!! This looks really incredible, well done 🙂
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Thanks Heather! I wish it had come out less wrinkley but I was pretty happy with the stripe matching 🙂
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