summer sewing: a jade green maxi dress

I got it done on time!

I haven't made a BHL Anna dress since late 2017, when I made several of them in quick succession the decided that I'd reached saturation point and really needed to find a new go-to woven bodice. What happened instead, as you may have noticed, is that I've barely made a woven dress since. It just feels like too much work. I've made a few attempts in the past to fit a princess seam bodice properly and it's REALLY annoying. Trying to get the neckline to lie properly, the waist to hit where the waist is supposed to hit, and most awkward of all the fabric to sit in properly under the bust instead of creating a weird slope from the apex to the waist was super frustrating and I just gave up. Maybe I'll try again soon.

With the Anna, however, you just make a couple of pleats and you're good to go.

When I bought this fabric - viscose crepe, beautiful texture, swishy rather than floaty if you want to get technical - I'd intended on trying a new strappy maxi dress pattern with it. I saw a pattern in Sew Today that looked like just the thing, but they didn't provide a photo of the back and when I went to buy it, I discovered it wasn't remotely bra-friendly. I had a look for something else I liked, came up short. Everything was either not suitable for wearing with a bra or was button-front, which I just don't like. I was going to hold on to the fabric to see what else would be released in the summer before I realised I had to attend a wedding on the 7th and didn't have anything to wear. I'd known about the wedding for a while but hadn't got clarity on the dress code (i.e. whether visible lower leg was acceptable for the temple or not), and by the time I realised the bride was going to be way too rushed off her feet and stressed to answer my nitpicky questions I barely had a week left to make the dress.

I played it safe and made the full-length version, and I'm glad I did. I'm still not exactly sure what the temple rules are; there was a woman there in a shorter dress and they didn't kick her out or anything, but everybody else was covered to the ankles, so I felt much more comfortable in a maxi (even though it was raining all day and I had to be on full puddle avoidance alert). I omitted the front slit for obvious reasons. At first I thought I might unpick it later to put the slit in after the wedding, but after wearing it for both days of the wedding I think I'll keep it like this. It's slightly less fancy-glam with no slit, and while I'm a big fan of fancy-glam it's not always the most versatile thing.

This is a size bigger than I usually make because stress-eating has consequences. I'm trying to work on that now (in conjunction with my therapist, no diets, slow progress, all the good stuff) but in the meantime I do need a little bit more room. The fabric also has a very slight stretch to it, meaning that the dress is super mega comfortable and I would be quite happy to wear it for eating giant meals. In fact, that's likely to be its main use over the summer. Other than that it's my standard altered Anna with a 2.5in FBA and no neckline facing. I have never used the included facing on any of my Annas after hating it so much on my original trial bodice, but I use a different alternative finishing method almost every time. For this one I used bias binding and topstitched it down to the inside.

Here's a photo we took outside the wedding venue. I wore a pashmina to cover my upper arms (I didn't make it, I bought it in Spain at least fifteen years ago) and I borrowed a pink and green headscarf when we got inside. The two-scarves thing was a bit unwieldy and I would have been better off with a shrug or jacket or similar, but I don't have anything that a) is formal enough, b) can be reasonably worn indoors, and c) doesn't look like ass with a full-length dress. I definitely didn't have enough time to conceive, buy supplies for and make such a garment, so unwieldy double-scarf action it was. For the reception the following evening I just stuck one of my Lupin jackets over the top to get me to the venue then wore it as is. Much curry was eaten. Many open bar cocktails were had. Much dancing was done to Uptown Funk, which seems to have finally dethroned Billie Jean as the opening wedding disco song of choice, and joyous techno-bhangra. Despite the dress being full length and me being drunk, I had zero issue dancing in it. Bonus!

I'm very pleased with this and I think it'll work just as well for standard summer days as for fancier occasions. I really like it with my denim Lupin. I'm particularly looking forward to wearing it during our holiday to San Sebastian next month, where we will just be eating constantly, as far as I can tell (it's my father-in-law's birthday and he's been planning this trip for at least a decade) and it's always good to look fancy as you fill your face with seafood. I won't make another Anna for a while but it's really nice to revisit an old favourite every now and then. 

Next up: either leggings or summer robe, depending on how photography goes this week!

 By Hand London Anna dress

Fabric: Viscose crepe from Walthamstow
Cost: £9
Pattern details: (as if you need these) Kimono sleeve dress with boat or V neck variations, underbust pleats, seven-panel skirt with maxi or knee-length variations
Size: UK 18
Alterations: 2.5 inch FBA, facing swapped out for bias facing
Would make again/would recommend: Yes/Yes