Can you believe I’ve been sewing for around two years and this is the first dress I’ve made?!

There have been a couple of false starts in the past (with patterns from Simplicity and McCalls) where the scale of fitting issues I was facing made me take a break for my own sanity, but I never got back to them. This time however, I used the Colette Laurel which allowed me a little head start as from my previous Colette makes I had an idea of some of the adjustments I’d need to make (lengthening and small bust adjustment). Sure enough, the toile was nearly passable for wearing so I went straight to “proper” fabric with my second round of adjustments. I used a metre and a half of this navy blue viscose from Minerva Crafts so at £6 it wouldn’t be breaking the bank if it didn’t turn out great.

I have to say I’m very happy with the result! I think this is a great easy to wear style, suitable for both work and an evening out. I don’t wear dresses very much (in part due to difficultly finding ready to wear ones that fit my tall frame), but when I do I tend to feel very put together.

I did end up making quite a few changes to the pattern:

• Lengthened both in the body and the skirt
• Small bust adjustment
• Broadened the shoulders
• Added darts at the back neckline
• Shortened the sleeves
• Straightened the curve around the hips
• Increased the depth of the back waist darts
• Curved the centre back seam in at the waist

But it didn’t feel too onerous as some of them were done while sewing up – deepening the waist darts and adding the back neck darts. Since this fabric is more drapey than the old cotton bedding I used for the toile, the neck darts were especially needed to stop the dress sagging into a hunchback shape.

Also worth mentioning, these are my first set in sleeves! I took my time and hand basted the sleeves before sewing, which was totally worth it as there is not a pucker in sight.

Now that I’ve successfully made a dress, with set in sleeves to boot, I feel ready to tackle a host of different pattern styles. But first up will be another Laurel – I want to maximise sewing enjoyment knowing that the fit will be wearable and there’s a plaid fabric that I’ve had my eye on for this style of dress for a little while…