Orange. Still seriously surprised that this a color I like wearing. It’s not a color I was ever drawn to until a few years ago when I discovered:
A) It looks good on me
B) It’s fun to wear!
Since the Ren Fest dress that introduced this concept to me I’ve been slowly adding more and more orange to my every day wardrobe.
So, when I found 3 or 4 yards of a fiery orange/red/yellow batik at the city sewing room sometime last year, I snagged it!
And when I had a free day to sew myself a dress, I made it!
I used Vogue 9182, deciding to make view B, the longer option.
What I didn’t realize, until I was cutting the dress out, is this pattern actually features a full circle skirt.
I love this! But it certainly is a fabric hog.
I can’t remember exactly how much fabric I had, but I used ALL of it.
All of it! The pockets had to be pieced together.
The bodice lining and skirt front facing were made from a yellow cotton in my stash. I would have preferred to make the facing from the same fabric as the dress, but there simply was not enough fabric for that option.
This pattern features different cup sizes, one of my favorite things in patterns, so I cut out the cup size that best suited my measurements, and previous experience with Vogue Patterns.
I sewed up the dress in about a day, and finished it off with a row of pale yellow (almost cream, but a touch darker than that) four-hole buttons down the front.
The hem was faced with yellow single fold bias tape.
Upon trying the dress on for the first time, I was disappointed to find the bodice to be too big.
Ugggg. I should have just made my normal size rather than fussing around with figuring out the right cup size.
I took the bodice in at the side seams, and then it fit decently well. Thankfully that was an easy fix!
I loved the fabric, I loved the style, I thought I would love the dress once I got it to fit. But.
I didn’t. The neckline was just too low and gap-y for the dress to be comfortable.
I wore it on occasion after finishing it last year, but every time I spent so much time being self-conscious and checking to make sure my neckline hadn’t shifted too much that I just didn’t enjoy the dress the way I wanted to.
So this summer, it stayed in my closet. Until about two weeks ago when I had an inspiration. I could fix this dress! I could!
A little bit of yellow lace to make the neckline higher.
A little bit of yellow bias tape for backing the lace to form a casing.
A little bit of yellow ribbon as a drawstring.
15 minutes at the sewing machine one morning before work, and suddenly the dress was fun and wearable, just like it was supposed to be.
The lace and the ribbon make the neckline feel very secure and comfortable.
I’ve worn it twice now in a 10 day period!
Safe to say, this dress is now getting all the love it was meant to have, from the moment I picked up this orange batik off the City Sewing Room shelves!
Well done! :-)
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