Work in progress #2 - Chiffon Dress

Oh we don't do half measures here, oh no. When I decided I wanted to make a dress, did I look for a simple pattern and a pretty floral cotton? Did I heck! A chiffon dress, with underskirt, yep that'll do.

Described on the website as 'average' difficulty I thought my previous sewing machine experience, with plenty of time and patience, would make it possible. My thinking being that if I can plumb in a sink and construct an Ikea double wardrobe, a girly dress should be a walk in the park. Until I pulled out the instructions...

 Looking at the pattern, I still think it's do-able and I am going to give it a bloody good shot. If it goes wrong, I'll chalk it up to experience and try again! I think it will be a case of actually reading the instructions and going step by step instead of getting carried away.

So after ordering five metres of chiffon and three metres of lining off the internet (and being a tad surprised at how minty-fresh the colour was when it came) I spent the whole of Sunday cutting out and drawing. It was like being back at school, only with more pressure to stay in the lines!

I used a really pale pink fabric pencil and pinned the cut-out template the fabric, drew around and then cut out. Not sure if that's how you're supposed to do it but it worked. There was quite a lot of wastage as there were arrows on the templates to follow the grain of the fabric. Still, more scraps for the patchwork quilt eh?! I think I will need a different approach for the chiffon though as I doubt the pencil will work without causing some damage.

So, 12 paper templates and ten beautifully shaped bits of underlining later, I think feel a lot more confident about the finished article. The hard part is over surely *ahem*. I only have six pieces of chiffon to cut out but I think I might give myself a break so I don't get repetitive strain injury in my cutting hand. But I am rather proud of my handiwork and I can see the 'dress shape' already. You don't get the instant gratification of a patchwork quilt square, but definitely more of a sense of achievement than knitting a scarf. A sliding scale if you will.

So until the next instalment - wish me luck!

Phili
xxx