Friday
My workplace had closed because of a snowstorm (on a Friday!) so I was able to return home for the weekend in the morning instead of after work. This unexpected day off gave us half of a day more to work on the dress. In the afternoon, my mom and I went to the fabric store to buy the fabric and the notions (my mom had already bought the pattern). I wanted to take a picture of all the material together, but I forgot.
Here's a closeup of the pattern I chose:
It's very light cotton with little purple flowers. I wanted a light fabric for the pleats to fall nicely. I was advised to choose a pattern that was very cheap (on sale) since I had never sewn before (as for my mom, although she regularly repairs clothing in our household and even sewed a bit when I was younger, she had never made a dress). I followed the advice not without feeling some disappointment, but I ended up not regretting my decision. I can always make this dress again with better quality fabric anyway.
Back at home, I started to cut each piece of the pattern. For info, we chose to make a size 8 of the dress. Cutting the pattern was longer than I thought. Definitely not my favourite part in making a dress!
Saturday
In the morning, I cut the fabric. We had some difficulties figuring out how to place the pattern pieces on the fabric correctly, but my mom eventually recalled the meaning of "Cut 1" and "Cut 2" pieces, and so I was able to cut each piece successfully.
Some patterns had little "triangles" or "zigzags" that I didn't cut in the fabric because I didn't know their use (yet). We eventually learned that they serve as references when you patch pieces together (eg. sewing the two tie ends at the right places on the bodice).
And then the more concrete, sewing-related stuff arrived, at last. I had been patiently waiting for this moment during all the previous steps. There's definitely more preparation "pre-sewing" than I expected.
I sewed the bodice, made the two tie ends, made the collar and sewed it onto the bodice. This all seems quick and simple, but it took a while because you need to stick needles in the fabric to ensure you sew nice lines, iron the fabric pre or post-sewing, and refer to the instructions and try to understand what they say (let's not forget my mom and I had never made a dress before.)
This was my first time sewing since 2011 where I had toyed with the sewing machine to make an oversized tee smaller. I found that sewing in itself is pretty mechanical. Not that this is a bad thing, I just noticed I was very focused when sewing and I felt my mind empty of thoughts. The hard part is pretty much before sewing, so as to say when you're struggling to put the pieces together the right way.
I was pretty satisfied with the progress we had made by noon, but then I was struck by a (TOTM) stomach ache and didn't feel well enough to continue. I felt quite sad to have lost a whole afternoon.
Sunday
Because I wanted to make up for the lost time, we resumed our work early in the morning. If I remember well, that day, we sewed the two tie ends on the bodice, I hemmed the sleeves (I found that long and tedious), I sewed the skirt and we created the pleats on the skirt. The last one was a real challenge... but my mom looked up videos on YouTube and found a technique that really helped us.
After a failed attempt at sewing the pleats, I let my mom take my place...
My mom also sewed the skirt with the bodice.
Unfortunately, our project had to be paused since I had to return to Montreal, but I was really satisfied with that productive day.
Next Saturday
Our progress last weekend, and especially last Sunday, had been such that there were few things left to do at that moment. Only the zip, the skirt hem and other finishing touches.
Sewing the lace ribbon at the bottom of the skirt to make the hem
We tackled the zip afterwards. Putting on the zip was a challenge, just like the pleats... Again, my mom went on YouTube and found a useful video to help us positioning the zip and finish the dress.
The sleeves were a bit bell-shaped and we didn't really like it, so my mom changed it a little.
I'm still mad at myself for this, but I managed to make a hole in the sleeve
when cutting off the extra thread after sewing.
Luckily for me, my mom arranged this.
This is one of the reasons I'm glad I opted for a cheaper fabric.
Final result
I love the dress. The length is perfect and the pleats fall beautifully.
I tie two knots at the back instead of only one to cinch the waist better.
I'm very happy with how the dress turned out. If I had to reflect on this first serious sewing experience, I'd first say that reading a pattern is hard. The words and the illustrations were hard to comprehend for the newbie that I am. I was lucky that my mom was there to help me because I couldn't decipher most of the instructions.
Additionally, there's so much to think of when making a dress. This pattern was labelled for beginners, but there were still lots of details to consider. I wrongly thought that making a dress was about the top and the skirt and other visible stuff or accessories, but there's also a lot of work that goes unseen (making the inside-collar and finishing it, hemming the sleeves, folding 2x each of the two tie ends' edges, etc...). The amount of material needed also surprised me, as sewing doesn't only ask for a sewing machine, but also lots of needles, a steam iron and enough space in the room.
In short, I supposed sewing required work, but not to this extent. The great thing is that my mom and I weren't rushed into making the dress, so we enjoyed taking our time through each step (hence why it took us a couple of days). And I really liked that every piece sewn brought us closer to the dress in one complete piece. This first sewing project makes me optimistic for future ones. ✨
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