Hi stitching fans!
Well, I promised on my tulip skirt page that I would post again once I'd made tulip number two...so here she is! Admitedly she developed somewhat as a result of a sudden thought I had whilst wandering around the supermarket - as you do - and she has teamed up to make a superhero-worthy combo with the By Hand London Anna dress bodice!
I slightly love this. I'm not going to lie.
The fabric is possibly polyester, I'm not really sure, but it's got very obvious woven grain and has got a good bit of body to it so it holds it's shape. The pleats in the bodice and skirt sit beautifully as a result - not to mention the gorgeous colour. Win!
The bodice pattern is lovely to sew, just the pleats really to deal with because the kimono sleeves are very simple and other than that it's just a question of attaching the neck facing and sewing up the side seams.
The skirt gave me a few headaches because I hadn't quite thought through the size calibrtion and I'd already cut out the tulip skirt in a size up from the one I made before, which turned out slightly on the snug side. If I'd planned to attach the two before I actually started (which would have made more sense let's be honest) I would have checked to cut two patterns that would actually end up with the same waist measurement. But there you go.
As a result I ended up adding a couple of extra 'emergency' pleats to the skirt to bring it in a good few inches. This was not text book pattern alteration (understatement) but I actually really liked the result - the skirt now has a bit more of an 'extreme' angle at the hip which suits the upper half's somehow space-ageness with the wide kimono sleeves rather nicely.
I did a little stop motion video of the make which you can see here, it sadly doesn't show my puzzlement and consequent hack to fix the sizing issue because I did it just before going to bed having had a sudden thought (another one) that I might be able to fix it and had to try before I could sleep. We've all been there.
And a few more photos for you... I'll write up a proper pattern review style page in the near future...
Enjoy!
Love and kisses
Helen