My Charleston Dress

After seeing all of the testers' Charleston Dresses from Hey June, I knew I needed to buy the pattern and give it a try. It looked good on literally all of them. I was not yet ready to commit a lot of money to the project, so I used the leftover fabric from my circle skirt to make a wearable muslin. Unfortunately, I started the project at a very busy time, and so it took me a couple months to complete it. This was the first pdf pattern I've ever tried, and to be honest, it was much easier than I expected.

I made a lot of mistakes on this dress, the most major being that I sewing the bodice patterns together backwards. Like, hilariously totally backwards. The good news is that I learned that the stitch I was using is really strong, the bad news is that meant picking out the seams was impossible. Luckily, I had enough fabric left to recut those pieces so all was not lost. Lesson learned: baste and check, then sew the seams to stay.

I made a mistake that I am super ashamed of. I didn't trust the pattern and thought that my neckband was too short, so I cut out a longer one. Turns out it was the perfect length, so I ruined the neck of my dress by having the neckband stick out awkwardly. My fix: fold it under and sew it down so it ended up like the armholes. Lesson learned: trust the pattern.

Overall impression: I love this dress, mistakes and all, and I will be making it many more times in the future. I've already bought blue fabric to make the same cut in a royal blue, and cut out pattern pieces for a patterned short-sleeved version with the A-line skirt. The instructions in the pattern were very straightforward, and most of the mistakes were due to me, not the pattern. In tech we call that a PEBCAK error (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard). I definitely recommend buying the pattern!

Modifications: I added 2 inches of length to the bodice and 3 inches of length to the skirt and graded out the skirt because my hips are 2 sizes larger than my waist. In my next iteration of the dress, I will add another half inch to the bodice, shorten the top of the bodice by my shoulders, and increase the size of the armholes (you can see they are too tight).

Next up: Super awesome leggings from another sewing class!