Pattern Review: Sweet as Leopard Print Dress

I finally finished my sister's leopard print dress today. This dress has taken me so long to finish. Half the problem was that whenever I wanted to try it on her before progressing with the dress, I would have to wait for the weekend until I went to my parents house so I could try it on her. Last weekend I had done everything except the hem. I spent part of this morning finishing up the hem and took it over to my parent's house this afternoon. It fit, she loved it and it looked really good on her!

I made her get off the couch & out of her comfy winter clothes to take this photo!

The pattern used was Simplicity 2549 which I purchased from Clegs at their Easter sale for $5!

I made view B, which is the purple dress. I loved view A with the bow but my sister didn't want a bow. When I make this for me I am making the bow.

This is a dress that I was inspired to make a couple of weeks before my sister's birthday. I had been at the Grand Hyatt for a work conference and decided to go to Tessuti's before going to the station. I did not intend to buy anything but they were having a remnant and sample roll sale. I ended up getting 2.6m of the leopard print fabric for $10. I think it was retailing for about $30 per meter at one stage which I think is crazy! You could feel the difference between this cotton and a standard cotton you would buy from Spotlight. This cotton is extremely soft. There was also a remnant of the leopard print with pink (which was about 1.5m) which I regret not buying as I love pink and sewing this dress has made me want to try to make something leopard print for myself.

Some issues I had along the way with this dress:

- I didn't think about lining the dress until I was about halfway through it. The fabric is so sheer however it was too late to line the bodice. I lined the skirt and I think that is fine because she will wear a bra with the dress so there is no issue with the bodice being unlined.

- This is only my second attempt at a zipper (my first was for a Simplicity 2117 wearable muslin I started but never ended up finishing as it looked like crap on me - pencil skirts do not agree with me). I found that for some reason the zipper foot was not easy to use. I found a lot of the fabric would not be sewn and I had to repeat to process several times. I ended up using a standard foot to sew the zipper in. It looks ok but there is a strange bump in the bottom. My Nanna seems to think she has a solution to this (in her broken Maltese I found it hard to understand) so next time I am sewing a zipper I am going to do it at her house.

-I overlocked the hemline on a Friday night whilst very tired and the stitch was not even. :( I was so annoyed at myself but the next day when Victoria tried it on, she needed 10cm cut off the hem, so it ended up not being a massive issue, except for when I was turning up the hem because the bottom was not even. I ended up getting ti right eventually but if I had of been paying more attention, this would have not been an issue. Doing the hem made me realise I really need a dress form so I can see the dress on the model to make adjustments, so I think this is something I am adding onto my shopping list (for next month - I have next to no money at the moment until I get my next pay - damn bills!).

Even though I did have some issues and I think that there are some faults in the dress that other sewing peeps will pick up, I am happy with how the dress looks and how the style suits her. Here are some other photos:

Front of the Dress

Back view of dress. I noticed at this point the waistband is slightly uneven :(

As this is only my second completed dress, I was expecting faults and for me this is a learning experience that I will be able to apply to other dresses going forward. Here's my pattern review:

Pattern: Simplicity 2549 - View B

Size: I made a size 14 but sewing teacher advised me to add an extra cm on the bodice pieces. Not sure if it was needed though.

Cost: Cotton Leopard fabric from Tessuti's - $10 remnant

          Pattern - $5 from Clegs Easter sale

          Thread (two reels), zipper and lining - approx $10

Total Cost: about $25

Time: I lost track because it was done over a long period of time. I am guessing about  15 hours.

Lessons learnt: See above comments in blog.

I have made a decision that I will not be returning to sewing classes next term. There are a number of reasons for this. The main issue is that as an accountant, the period between July-September is our busiest with year-end and it will be difficult to ensure I get to all my sewing classes. I also find that I enjoy working at my own pace and working for a two hour block and stopping does not suit me. Although the classes are not too expensive, I feel I am not getting my money's worth (I've already missed two classes because I was stuck at work) which is nothing to do with the teacher or class itself but more so with how I want to learn. I also feel that the sewing community online is so strong and anything I am not sure of, I will be able to find an answer for!

I am looking forward to starting my next project. I am still stuck on a couple of projects but I will have decided by early next week as I want to start cutting out the pattern before sewing class on Wednesday (if I get to go, Month-end has been crazy this month and the public holiday on Monday is not helping :(

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