Pattern: Ellie & Mac – I love the 90s Dress

Measurements at the time: high bust 38 1/2 bust 42 waist 37 hip 48 ½

Size sewn: shoulders L, XL bust, XXL waist and hips

Alterations: I added one inch to the skirt length for my height because this is drafted for a 5 foot five woman and I’m 5’7” .   I did my normal half inch forward shoulder adjustment  I added another half inch so I could have a one inch hem. I don’t like 1/2 an inch hem (as the pattern calls for) because it usually flips up, I like a beefy 1 inch hem. So in total I added 1.5” to length of skirt portion.  I added 1/2 inch to each side of the sleeves at the hem and then blended to the armpit – they were way too small when I flat measured them so the total added to each sleeve hem was an inch in width.  That way I could get 14 1/4 inches of room after sewing and seam allowance. I have big biceps.  I did keep the 1/2 inch hem on the sleeves – though I would prefer to have at least 3/4 inch hem there.

Date sewn:  May 21, 2023

Fabric:  Double Brushed Navy & Pink Floral Poly Spandex purchased in 2017 from Knitpop for $8.50/yard.  I used 2 yards so $17 total.

Instructions: I found that there was no pocket line on the back only on the front pieces but you start sewing them on to the back piece so make sure to transfer the pocket lines to the back pieces.

The back skirt piece is shorter than the front by two and 3/4 inch and wider by two inches this really confused me until I wore the dress and realized it really helped even things out over my rear end.

I didn’t cut the front or back bodices on the fold. I traced it to be one open piece and not on the fold and then just cut 2 – laid out flat like a normal proper pattern piece.  You all know my pet peeve is cut 2 on fold – I can’t stand that.

I also cut the neck band 1 1/2 inch by 20 1/2 inch – I think it was a 1” width, I like a beefier neckband.

Thoughts: Ok, I know it sounds like I did a lot of altering and things for this dress, but I really love this dress.  A first I wasn’t sure if I would like it, but when I wear it I feel like a teenager all over again.  It has the best pockets too!  I also thought that at first when I saw it, that I would look like I was wearing a tent.  But it’s really cute and really fun and it’s twirly and flowy and I’m probably going to make more. I really love it, it’s a great dress. I got the pattern on their weekly $2 sale patterns. It was cheap and I figured why not and now I love it.  So that’s the second pattern that I’ve gotten and made from Ellie and Mac that I absolutely love.  The first pattern was the curved hem tank and you know I’ve made a ton of those and that’s a free pattern. Now I look every Tuesday at which patterns they have on sale for $2 and I’m scooping them up because I really love how the Ellie & Mac patterns are laid out and I love how they look on me.  If you haven’t given them a shot yet you might want to try the free curved hem tank to get an idea of how they work but they’re great in my opinion.

Pattern: Snapdragon Studios – Summer Jazz Dress

Measurements at the time: bust 42 high bust 39 waist 37 to 39 hip 49

Size sewn: L bust, XL waist and hips

Alterations: Alterations I did French seams on the center front seam and on the shoulders.  There is no elastic length for inside the casing – no idea what length to use, I winged it.

Date started: date started June 8, 2023     Date finished: date finished June 10th 2023

Fabric:  In March of 2018 I got this in the Fabricmart Precut sale. So for $12 I got the pattern and 5 Yards of Muted Navy/Bright Blue/Pink 100% Polyester Abstract Print Peachskin Blouse Weight Woven 60W fabric. I still have 2 yards left. so this dress took 3 yards.  so this dress was only about $7 of fabric plus I got the pattern with it.

Instructions: the instructions are really weird, they’re super wordy and convoluted.  The neck binding is a very weird way to do this as well and so not all of the neck binding gets caught because of how they say to sew it. Also, with this weird neck binding, when I wear the dress it flips to the front and you can see the bad neck binding. I might have to hand stitch this somehow to the inside so it doesn’t flip forward, but I don’t know how without showing stitches on the front. Not a fan of the neck binding.

Thoughts: Why is there a center front seam? Unnecessary center front seams are gross to me. There’s no reason to have a center front seam on this.

The fabric was completely horrible to work with.  It is some weird slippery rayon crap and it’s just horrible, I don’t like it. I bet it would snag in a heartbeat because it was unraveling as I was trying to work with it. I should have starched it to make it stiff and easier to work with like I blogged about ages ago with how to work with slippery fabric. (I should have taken my own advice!)

On the front of the dress where you tack down the elastic, under the bust, is a sloppy way to do it and it shows on the front and it’s just right there in front. Everybody can see where you’ve tacked it down.

Overall I did not enjoy making this dress. I wrote on my notes “Give up, terrible.”  I didn’t enjoy the fabric. I didn’t’ enjoy the instructions.  However, when I wear it – I think it looks cute, so I don’t know. I also see that you can make it in a jersey as well, even though I used a woven. So it might be cute in a jersey but I still don’t like how you do the front elastic tack down at the center front waist. I’m going to have to think about how to make that look better.  This dress is not my favorite.  But I will let it hang in the closet for awhile and see if it grows on me.

Happy Sewing!

Kristin