FINISHED! Tiny Dancer Drop Waist Shirt Dress

Just in time for the end of the month, here is my finished Pattern Runway Drop Waist Shirt Dress made up from Liberty of London AW2013 Art Fabrics, Tiny Dancer (colourway A), from the Audio theme.  The fabric is from Tessuti and I snapped it up the moment I got the email notifying that some new season Liberty was in stock.

"Tiny Dancer celebrates the collaborative work of choreographer Merce Cunningham and his musical advisor and partner John Cage, as they explore the relationship between dance and music. Sketched from performance videos with pen and ink, the design was stylised to create symbolic shapes. "

But let's talk about the dress.  Oh how I LOVE this dress. I've been working slowly on this most of the month, in between my other projects.  This is so 'me'. The collar combined with the drop waist and the fabulous print is a perfect fit for my style.

A big congratulations to Pattern Runway. I wasn't particularly familiar with their patterns and hadn't sewn up a pattern from their range before, but I was really impressed. The pattern was a digital buy, which more and more these days I'm preferring. Clear pattern (I really liked the grid on the pattern) with very good instructions. I had a question which I emailed through and I got an immediate answer.

As for the making of it, you may remember way back at the beginning of June I made a muslin for this dress. Well I think the adjustments I made back then were spot on.  It is probably a bit loose in the body but I don't think that matters and I like it. In the end I didn't have to adjust the armscye like I thought I would - the change in the bust darts were enough to lift them.

It wasn't a quick make but it did come together reasonably easy.  Oh except for the fact that I sewed the left shoulder up 4 (yes 4 times) before I got it right.  Yes, it was late at night and I kept twisting the seam as I was sewing it inside out.  The result is lovely and clean on the shoulder but I just kept twisting the damn thing. Only on one shoulder of course!

I had a few problems with putting the collar on getting the curved ends to be neat.  I really must hunt down a tutorial for that.  It was a tight squeeze to get a button on in the space I ended up with but I did and hopefully the Tiny Dancer fabric hides any little issues.  Last night when I was finishing it I was so worried about this tiny button space, that I resigned myself to never wearing it buttoned up, but now that I'm wearing it, it feels and looks ok done up. In fact that will be the default wear.

I didn't line the dress, partly because I just didn't know where to start with doing such a thing with a shirt dress. I'm not worried as I can always wear a slip under this for winter or in summer, my own legs will be just fine.

I'm a bit off across the bodice on the pattern, but I'm just going to forget that I noticed it and I'm sure you will too :)

Do check out Pattern Runway.  I certainly will be looking at more of their patterns and will be putting this one away as a definite one to remake. ... although for now, I think I might make something really easy.