Mad at the Plaid...

I made it through my first week back at work barely, but I made it! It's also been incredibly hot this week, we've been faced with 41 degree heat in Sydney (that's 105.8 farenheit) and there have been major fires across Australia, especially inland where it's been even hotter. It's much cooler today which is a relief (the cats are also much happier) and David comes back from the USA tomorrow (he has been at conferences and academic-y things for the past 10 days) so hopefully the coming week will be a little more bearable.

Enough complaining, let's talk about the dress!

I worked on this dress in stops and starts for a few weeks towards the end of last year. We were quite busy during those weekends celebrating things like 30th Birthdays and 2nd Wedding Anniversaries.

I love plaid/tartan but completely understand why I don't often sew with it - it makes me mad. Getting everthing to match and line up is time consuming and, let's be honest, a real pain in the bum! It also doesn't help when the plaid I'm using is rectangular as opposed to square, but that's what you get when using fabric from your stash that you thrifted years ago for about $4. You can't have it all.

Wow! I got the back to line up!!

I have to admit though, that despite the time consuming nature of the fabric, I am quite chuffed with how it turned out. Especially where the shoulder straps line up with the bodice. I think it's also a lovely detail the way the plaid in the straps is angled before coming into a nice matching line down the bodice front.

I'm not as pleased with the bias waist band though and really should have tried harder to make sure I started with the point of a rectangle in the centre top as opposed to the middle of one. I didn't really have enough fabric to recut the waist band but the print itself, luckily, is busy enough to compensate for that. You live and learn. 

Overall I really liked the pattern. I was worried about the bodice fabric bulging out the side of my arm pit because there are no side bust darts in this dress, but it sits really nicely. The bodice is fully lined with the same plaid fabric and the waist band is underlined with a plain white cotton (which I highly recommend if you are cutting this on the bias - it gives the fabric more stability.)

Overall I really love this dress. I wish I could have made the skirt a bit fuller but there just wasn't enough fabric, I added as many pleats in the skirt as I could!

I think it's going to be a great transitional piece as we head into autumn this year, and it works well as a summer dress that's more work appropriate. I can now tick number 3 off my sewing list!

Do you use plaids in your sewing often? I'd love to hear any tips you have for making it less 'a pain in the bum' if you have them!

XX
Jen