Disclaimer: I received the pattern for free for participating in the tour. All opinions are 100% my own though.
Please forgive the horrible photography. I couldn’t find my tripod and the 4-year-old refused to stand still while taking the pictures, and pretty much decided after a few shots she was done helping. Not to mention the 1-year-old was screaming in the background. Sigh. Haven’t had a chance to try again for pics since. Although to be fair to the 4-year-old, the hubby doesn’t take pics any better. :p
Sheath dresses are probably the one style of dress that pretty much always looks decent on me. But I was still a little worried about signing up for the Colorblock Dress pattern tour.
Why? Because I’ve learnt that generally my top half is usually two or three sizes bigger than my bottom half in PDF patterns. Which means lots of adjustments are usually needed.
But luckily it was fairly easy to grade between sizes with this pattern. (Updated to add: After looking at the pics my daughter took, I decided it needs a little more taken in the back especially, so after those adjustments are done I’ll post new pics).
I fell into the largest size (E) up top, and was in between sizes B and C at the hips, I decided to go with C at the hips because of my fabric. Generally tops that fit through the bust are too baggy just above the shoulders, so I did some adjustments all over the place. I cut the shoulder width of the size D but kept the neckline at E to ensure proper coverage when bending over. Then from the underarm to the waist line I cut at E and then graded from waist to the hip down to size C.
It might sound a little complicated but it wasn’t too difficult. The width of the front centre panel is consistent between the sizes, so the grading is all done with the side panels.
I did do one major change to the pattern as you have probably already noticed.
I was a little disappointed in my fabric. I order my knits online because the pricing is better than what I can usually get in store (and the selection is greater) but the downside is I can’t touch the fabric. I wanted a comfy dress and usually the Kaufman knits are good quality t-shirt like knit and thought it’d be fun to a have comfy polka dot dress. But the only solid black I could find was a rayon jersey. It’s very nice and soft and has a good drape, but it’s not a good fit for this project, when stretched out it’s kinda see-through. And also the black dots fabric faded after just the pre-wash. Brand new and it already looks like an old tee! I was disappointed. In the end, with the two different blacks now, I decided it looked better as a shirt, and cut the dress down to about tunic length.
I think it’s cute! (although these pictures are so not flattering, lol)
In this fabric I like it so much better as a shirt. I will definitely try this pattern again to make a dress but use a thicker (Ponte maybe?) knit next time. I think I might also adjust the curves on the pattern piece for the centre front panel to be a little wider maybe. I think I lose any slimming effect because my side panels are so much wider on me proportionally to the centre piece. It doesn’t need much I don’t think to make it look a little more balanced. (I think I’ll also make another top though too!)
Head on over to So Sew Easy to check out the Colorblock dress!
