Nostalgic polkadots

It seems that I have found another favourite pattern to use over and over again. I made this dress last summer and loved it, even if the fit wasn’t perfect. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this gorgeous lilac coloured polkadot viscose fabric when visiting Eurokangas in the neighbouring city that has slightly bigger selection than my local one. I have never worn this colour before, but I was pleasantly surprised that the colour suits my winter-pale complexion. Anyway, I got instant vintage feels and started thinking about sailor collars and flowing skirts with puffy sleeves, so I dug into my pile of sewing magazines and found the one I used before: Suuri Käsityö 4/2013.

The original dress pattern has a v-neck and lots of volume in the bodice. Previously I had made the size 36 and that was very roomy. I also wanted a rounded neckline and thought that little less gathering at the bodice would suit me better. So, I decided to start with the size 34 and make some modifications.

I removed the shoulder gatherings and made the neckline wider and rounder. I also lifted it a bit. To get rid of the extra volume I pleated it away leaving still enough for my bust. The bodice felt quite short so when I cut the bodice I added lots of extra that I finally ended up cutting away when inserting the waistband.

The original dress did not have any collar at the back (the ties started at the shoulder seam) so I had to draft a collar:

This collar was basically a Peter Pan collar with the added ties. I traced the shape of the neckline and drew a collar with a width of 4 cm. I kept the length of the ties but shaped the ends a bit differently from the original pattern.

I also changed the finishing of the neckline by making a double yoke at the back and using the bias binding only in the front part. That worked fine even if I had to do some hand stitching and the sewing the bias binding was so much easier with this shape of the neckline! (The sharp v-neck gave me gray hairs the last time!) I also remember to interface the waistband and top-stitched the seam allowances to it to give the waistline some structure that was lacking in my previous version of the dress (thus the belt!).

I moved the gathers to the sides at the front bodice to give the dress a bit more slimmer look. Finally I left 2 inches of ease to the waistband. I could have taken it in, but I wanted to have a relaxed fit and thought that I could always add the belt loops and a belt if I wanted to emphasize my waist (even though the rised waistline means that the “waist” is somewhere around my lower ribs)..

I kept the same skirt as in the previous version. I think that it has a perfect amount of fullness for this kind of a dress.

I have been wearing this dress today and I just love it. I think I haven’t got over this pattern, though, and will probably use it again for some other fabric.