Sewing and Slapdashery: all I ever Wanted, all I ever needed

You may recall that last year I made several attempts at a grey T-shirt maxi dress, and failed every time. I gave up on the grey (it just doesn't work on me head-to-toe), but I still hankered after the T-shirt maxi. I wasn't sure what to do - I was still smarting a bit from all the wadders I ended up with last year, and also didn't really want to pay for the kind of simple pattern I was after. It was only when this dress finally gave up the ghost that I realised I could just copy that, except... you know, properly this time.

This is the Vanessa Pouzet Wanted T-shirt with a gathered skirt attached. Much like last time, I used the front panel of the BHL Anna skirt at the front to give me a side slit. My original gathered skirt was just one piece of fabric bunched up terrifyingly at the waist, but this one is three panels at the front and one at the back, which works much better.

I decided against using the Anna bodice this time. Every time I've made it in lightweight jersey it's very quickly got stretched out and pulled down and lost shape, so I'm reserving it for woven fabrics and heavier knits in future. Also, this neckline looks great on me.

This fabric is from Fabric Store in Walthamstow because of course it is, and it's fabulous. It's lightweight but not see-through, stretchy with great recovery, and super soft. And this print is awesome. I must try and get some more.

The main issue I had with this dress was trying to get the waistline to sit in the right place. I cut the bodice to where I thought I wanted it to sit, without considering that a maxi skirt is obviously going to weigh the whole thing down. It ended up sitting a good couple of inches below my waist in an extraordinarily unflattering way, and rather than unpick all the stretch stitches (ugh) I just cut the whole thing off below the stitching line and did it again. The finished version sits pretty perfectly on my waist from the front, though it is still a little too low at the back. But I can't see that, so eh.

For an experimental dress I am pretty damn pleased with this. I absolutely love the chilled-out summer Goth (well, recovering Goth) vibe of it, and it's really great to have a summer dress that isn't bright and floral. It's incredibly comfortable while still being put together, and I will be wearing the shit out of it this summer. If I can find the right fabric, I'm going to make a second one. I have bought another piece of summer maxi dress fabric, but since it's bright and floral I think I'm going to reserve it for another Kielo. I strongly prefer to have my legs covered when it's sunny (unless the dress in question is really amazing), so half a dozen maxi dresses and a few jumpsuits will see me quite happily through the entire summer.