The Gryffindor Sundress

 Oh look! For the first time in what feels like ages, I’m sharing a dress that’s not orange!

September 1st is the day students go to Platform 9 3/4, board the Hogwarts Express, and return to the magical school for another year of learning. 

Thus, it seemed like the perfect time to share the Gryffindor dress I made last summer. 

The fabric was picked up on sale at Joann’s a few years back. I grabbed some of this black background Slytherin fabric to make my brother a few things, and snagged 3 yards of the Gryffindor to make myself a dress.

When I finally found time to turn the fabric into said dress last summer, the recently acquired Burda 6343 was at the top of my pattern pile, so I decided to pair the two together.

I loved the interesting bodice seamlines (hard to make out in the busy print), full skirt, and square neckline.

I was worried the neckline might be a little too low for an every day dress, so I raised it about an inch, both front and back.

As we were still living in the apartment at the time, I had yet to be reunited with my fabric stash. Thus, I had nothing on hand to line the bodice with, as directed by the pattern. So instead I decided to bind the neckline and armholes with some narrow red vintage bias tape I had on hand. 

I like the look, but I think it would have been better to line the bodice instead. There is a lot of fabric pleated into that skirt, and it would be better supported with a fully lined bodice.

Speaking of the skirt - it is full! 3 yards was just barely not enough fabric for this dress, and a directional print was not a good idea. 

The fabric was too narrow for the full width of the skirt pieces, so extra had to be pieced in on the edges. And my fabric scraps weren’t quite long enough for that, so there’s extra piecing at the bottom corners of both the front and back skirt panels.

The extra seams are completely hidden by the pleats, so no problem what so ever, but a 60” wide fabric would be a better choice for this pattern than the 44” wide cotton I used.

I decided to do an exposed black metal zipper down the back, and added a red ribbon at the waist.

The red ribbon actually wasn’t planned. I meant to wear the red belt from this dress with my new frock, but when I brought the dress back to my parents’ one weekend to be photographed by my brother, I realized I’d forgotten to pack the belt.

So I went through the stash of sewing notions still in my parents’ basement and grabbed a short length of red ribbon and sewed it on to the the dress.

While this was plan B or C, and not my original preference, I’m actually glad it went this way.

The finished dress is so comfy and easy to wear and it’s nice not to have to remember a separate belt to go with it!

Despite its few flaws, this dress has become one of my favorites this summer, getting worn several times a month.

Now that it’s time to go back to Hogwarts, and the weather will hopefully be cooling off soon (hopefully!). I’m sure that my Gryffindor dress will start staying in my closet for longer periods of time, but I’m already looking forward to pulling it out again next summer!