Don’t be fooled by the pictures…… or the line drawings.
This dress nearly drove me up the wall!
Reason number one was the fabric – my first time sewing with sheer fabric that frays if you even glance at it.
Reason number two was the fit.
I was looking for a simple one-shouldered dress for a black tie event I was attending for work. Simplicity 2692 looked like it would fit the bill and be pretty easy to alter for my full bust. I mean gathers – they’re designed to adjust right?
Wrong. I’m not even going to go into how many tries I made with this one. A lot of it was my own doing as I haven’t done a lot of FBAs but there were also funny things going on with the midrif panel and the back.
I ended up extending the bodice front by 3 inches, raising the arm holes by an inch so that my strapless bra wouldn’t show. I narrowed the back piece as it was gaping and changed the angle of the midriff pieces.
Pattern pieces before.
Pattern pieces after.
On the positive side – I didn’t change anything on the skirt.
ETA: If I make this again, I’ll do the FBA using this method.
The whole thing was lined with navy acetate and I used a scrap of poly satin for the midriff. In the end it came together okay – except for one little thing. I forgot to add the ease back in when I adjusted the midriff so I couldn’t exactly breath in this one. Believe me when I tell you it took three people to get that damn zip up!
If I decide to make any of the other views on this pattern, I may just take The Mahogany Stylist’s lead and make it from a knit.
TOTAL COST:
Pattern: $7.5
Fabric: $38.85 (3m @ $12.95/m)
Lining: $12.0 (3m @ $4/m
Zip: $8.95
Thread: $4.5
TOTAL: NZ$71.80 /US$49.40
What an amazing job you´ve done, and the work was totally worth it! Looove the Mermaid dress! Fitting can be a pain sometimes, but when the result comes out as good as this it´s worth it anyhow, isn´t it?
It’s beautiful and you look beautiful in it!! It was well worth all the work you put in it!
This dress is gorgeous! And the fit is is wow!! I love the idea of tailored dresses that fit you perfectly and I am so inspired by your sewing!!!
This is soo stunning!! You did a fabulous job! I’m going to have to take a second look at this pattern.
I love it! I’d seen that pattern a million times and never thought much of it, but in that fabric and style it looks great! (I also love the way your tattoo shows on your exposed shoulder, lol.)
Despite the problems that you had, it turned out very nice looking. I love your fabric choices! Fitting is a pain, but so worth it in the end.
And I have to say, I NEVER considered using newspaper for pattern paper before. I usually wind up using something too stiff and awkward. What a great idea!
Haha… it was totally a case of it being the only thing on hand at the time! It works fine as long as you don’t have white fabric or a lot of markings. My new fall back though is just a 50 meter roll of lunch paper
It seems pattern paper and in fact even carbon paper for tracing markings is impossible to find in New Zealand ggggrrr.
This is gorgeous! I love how the print on the dress looks scaly. It’s really beautiful. I’m petrified of using a sheer fabric. I also love how it goes with your tattoo
This dress is beautiful on you!
Well, it really is gorgeous, so I hope you enjoyed the wearing of it a bit. I don’t tend to think full length or off the shoulder dresses are my thing, but I would buy that in a heartbeat. Really pretty.
This is stunning! It looks amazing on you.
That’s beautiful – and all the fit fussing is behind you now. I love the scales effect on the fabric. You would never find something like that in RTW.
Oh, I’m a little late to the party but this is SO beautiful and so flattering! Love love love it!
Thanks so much!
I am having the same problems at the moment…. I thought it would be easy but it is not…. it’s such a difficult pattern to work with if you are “top heavy”! I have to make 2 dresses and had to extend the bodice because it is soooo low, so I had to change the bodice completely… then…. the midrif didn’t fit the top, so I extended it, but it is way too loose… Arggg… wasting so much material!!!
I am thinking of sewing the skirt part to the bodice and making a midrif band to go over that beneath the bust???? Do you think I can pull that off?
Thanks so much Alana for the alterations for a FBA for a gathered bodice. I am making M5806 for my DD who is a size 10 high bust and 14 full bust – like her mum many years ago!!. May your stitches be straight.LOL
Merry Christmas. ♥
Beautiful! I’m so glad somebody else is having these problems with this dress! Thought I was just going insane
Very nice job getting it to fit! I’m on my fifth try!