I always feel like I should start these things by explaining why I chose to make something, but honestly who knows? I do have a sort of queue, but sometimes things just capture my attention. I didn’t have any particular intention of making the new Seren sundress from Tilly and the Buttons until, for whatever reason, the tie-front view caught my imagination. I think I liked that it showed a tiny bit of skin and just seemed summery and fun.
I also felt it was a great use of the three yards of coral linen I’d gotten from the Fabric Store’s closing sale of its L.A. shop. (RIP!) It’s perfect for this dress. I realized when I started working with the fabric that it’s more sheer than I’d thought, so luckily I had just enough fabric to self-line the skirt.
I had a few challenges putting this together. First, fitting the bodice was tricky. I’d like to be a bit more precise in my fitting, so rather than size up to my bust measurements (which I’ve tended to do), I decided to use my high-bust and waist measurements and attempt a full-bust adjustment. Fortunately, Tilly and the Buttons has a really nice tutorial for making this change, and it was pretty straightforward. However, the difference between my high-bust measurement and my full-bust measurement is a whopping six inches, as opposed to the two inches for which the pattern is drafted. I was a little bit freaked out by the discrepancy and just couldn’t quite bring myself to alter the pattern that much — I ended up drafting for a four-inch difference instead.
I should’ve trusted my measurements, since I ended up with a lot of gaping under and around the arms. I believe this is because the bust was tugging too much, although, because I also seemed to just have a lot of extra fabric, the front of the dress could’ve just been too broad.
I discovered this, of course, after the dress was basically done. I did (unusually for me) make a muslin, but I didn’t put on buttons and I wasn’t sure how facings would affect the fit, so it was really imprecise. I considered just letting the gaping be, but in the end I decided I really couldn’t wear the dress like that. So I did some creative folding and put in a couple of tucks at the side. It’s not ideal, but although I had to fight a rising sense of dread, I actually think the fit is pretty good and the tucks look OK. There is some gaping at the buttonholes, but I’ve decided it’s tolerable.
I also had a real problem with the waistband. Somehow, in attaching the waistband facing, I sort of tugged the waistband so that the whole thing tugs to the side. You can’t tell too much when I’m wearing the dress, but it’ll never lie perfectly flat, which is too bad.
My new sewing machine (a Baby Lock Molly, a replacement for my late, lamented, ancient Singer) has a buttonhole attachment, which made the many buttonholes a snap. I serged as much of the dress as I could but also sewed the serged edges down (sort of like a fake flat felled seam).
Oh, and one final change: I wear these super-industrial-strength bras (see above re. FBA) and even the substantial straps drafted for the Seren weren’t covering my bra straps. So I cut new straps that were about an inch wider. Of course, I didn’t realize the problem with the straps until the bodice was done, so I had to rip out the originals and sew the new ones in, resulting in a kind of unfortunate line of topstitching at the top of the bodice.
I’m happy with the end product, especially given the amount of seam-ripping that went on. The more I sew, the better I get, and the more I learn about fitting my body. I’ve always sort of known that I was an hourglass shape (a very lumpy hourglass, anyway), but trying to fit my measurements has helped me understand how drastically true that is.