autumn sewing: my very unseasonal Shakespeare dress

So this took me quite a long time.

There are several reasons this fairly simple dress took me three months to make. First, I didn't want to cut the fabric. This is a bit of a recurring theme for me, and I'm currently holding onto three lengths of slightly higher-end fabric that I'm reluctant to take the plunge on. Up until this dress, I thought I was just being a giant fraidy-cat. I kept looking at the fabric and the Cambie pattern I planned to use, feeling slightly dizzy and promising myself I'd cut into it next week, honest. It took two months of this before I realised the reason I was putting it off: this wasn't the right pattern and I didn't want that dress.

I still like the Cambie pattern and want to make another one. But it is a bit, well, sweet. Since "sweet" is not in any way part of my personal style, I made my first version in a dark green crepe which took the edge off the cutesiness a bit. I don't wear it that much because it is very much an office dress, but it's also an office dress that got an unprompted compliment from a billionaire, so it's earned its place in my wardrobe. I kept picturing the same style in this whimsical cotton, and it just wasn't working for me

What I ended up with is my old faithful combination of Anna bodice and Butterick 4443 skirt. Yes, I know, I make too many Anna bodices and I should branch out a bit. I do try. But it's so simple to make, and it actually fits me well because of the waist pleats. I have never been able to work out how to get a proper fit in the bust without them. Next year I will find at least one more go-to, I promise. For now, it's the one bodice I know fits very well, so I was less terrified about messing up expensive fabric.

I got the main dress all French-seamed up and looking fairly nice when I ran into problem number two. I'd always planned to fully line the dress for a neater appearance at the neckline and safeguard against how thin the fabric is, and I'd bought some white cotton for the lining ages ago. However, when it came to actually cutting it out, I realised it was about three times as thick as my main fabric and would probably do weird things to the hang of the dress (and look strange and be uncomfortable). The dress then hung on a hook waiting patiently for several weeks while I procrastinated over going lining shopping. I hate lining shopping; I find it to be such a crapshoot. Needs to not be too annoying to sew, needs to feel nice against the skin, needs to be synthetic so it doesn't stick to tights but also needs to not be incredibly static. I found what I thought was a decent fabric but sadly it turns out not to be. It is extra static and was a complete bitch to sew with. The dress feels much tighter than it did before lining it, so I think I lost a bit of ease while I was wrangling with it. Ugh.  For now it'll do, but going back and doing the lining again is not out of the question.

The truth is that I'm not as happy with this dress as I could be. It's slightly too tight (though I don't want to alter it yet as I've put on a fair bit of weight this past year due to a birth control I've just come off; I want to see where my weight is when my body gets used to itself again), the lining is terrible and because it's so cold in London right now I don't know when I'm going to wear it. And also the fabric still has text from the wrong play printed on it. I do think it's pretty though, so I'm going to put it away for a month or so, get all my Christmas sewing done (ever tried to make a Pokémon hat? Me neither, but I'm about to), and re-evaluate it in 2018.

Next week: a different skirt shape? Surely not.