Dress: DIY from Seamwork “Veronica” Pattern
Shoes: Seychelles
I’ve had my eye on the Seamwork “Veronica” pattern for months and months now, but without a dining table to put my sewing machine on, all of my sewing projects have been sitting on the back burner.
The very first free weekend I’ve had in our new place (with our new dining table) I took the opportunity to finally put the sewing pedal to the metal. I bought the digital Veronica pattern, had it printed it a local print shop, marveled at how much easier it was than sticky-taping together 40+ sheets of A4 paper, and took a trip to Sydney Road – Melbourne’s cheap fabric mecca – which is now conveniently located just near me, and bought some fantastically 80’s viscose to give the pattern a dry run.
The Veronica’s a very simple frock with dolman sleeves, a solid banded waistband that’s elasticised at the back. The dress fastens with a zipper at the back and features the slightly blouson style that I’m kind of loving right now.
The pattern seemed straightforward enough; the only tricky part was the waistband, but I took it slow and steady and didn’t have to unpick once.
BUT (and it’s a big but) it was much too big in the waist.
Because it was just a wearable muslin, and I couldn’t figure out how to correct the size issues without taking the entire thing to pieces and starting again from scratch, I just frankensteined my own lazy fix, by pinching a couple of pleats into the waistband and sewing it up.
It’s… OK. The pleats makes the top a bit more blousy than I needed it to be, and the dress is not as flattering as I’d hoped – the neckline’s way too high and the shape’s a bit boxy, plus to be honest the zipper at the back seemed to be totally unecessary – with the elasticised back waistband it would be easy to pull on and off.
The pattern’s a solid 6 out of 10, but I’m not sure I’d make it again. I thought I might actually try the Olivia dress from Style Arc next time, which seems to have everything that I like about the Veronica, and none of the stuff I didn’t.
Did I miss something?!?? When did you get engaged??!!
LOL, a while back – November 2016? We’ve been so focussed on the house-deposit-saving thing that we haven’t even started trying to plan the wedding!
isn’t the Veronica a lot like Colette Myrtle dress? You looked great in all the versions you made of that one. Which is why I bought it too :p
Aw, thank you! It’s a little different (the Myrtle has set in sleeves and more of an a-line skirt). I do love my Myrtle pattern though, but I’ve only ever used it for knit fabrics. Hope you love it too – have you sewn one yet?
That is a major drawback of home sewing. Until you’ve put in all the hard work and emotional investment (am I the only one who spends every moment at the machine convincing herself how utterly marvellous she will look in the completed garment?), you don’t actually know whether it’s actually going to suit. If it doesn’t it’s sooo much more of a disappointment than just nipping into a changing room . . .
Agreed! Though the flip side is when you find a pattern that works for you, you can just made it again and again and again 🙂
Your dress look great on you. I’m really really struggling to understand how to do the waistband. I’m about 10 seconds from using it to clean it the windows!!! Can you offer any advice? The pictures don’t make any sense to my frazzled brain.
Oh, I’ve heard a lot of people struggled with the waist band – I hope I’m not too late with this reply! Are you having trouble with the elasticised side, or the interfaced side?
I found the measurements were too narrow for the waistband with5/8″ seams. There was no space to topstitch without catching the elastic, I decided to skip this step…