Bold and blue Belladone

I am going to ignore the fact that summer is being very slow to appear and just make dresses – maybe that will entice the sun out?

For the last few weeks I have been planning dresses – and not just sensible solid colour, office ready dresses but summery dresses with gorgeous prints!

First up is Deer and Doe’s Belladone dress. I first made this last year and (despite being very sensible and making a muslin) – when I came to wear it properly I realised that there were a couple of fit issues going on. Firstly there is a slight gape at the neckline and it felt as if there was a little too much fabric across the top of the bodice above the bust. Secondly I felt as if the waistband was sitting slightly too high – though I think it looks fine in the picture – it felt slightly off when wearing it. Finally (and the one that causes the most problems on wearing the dress) the armscye rubs against my arm at the front – you can see a diagonal pull line up towards the neck in the picture  below.The first problems were the easiest to solve – for the gape at the neck I simply folded out a small dart about halfway along the neckline and smoothed out the curve. I then added about half an inch to the length of the bodice to bring the waistband down slightly.

I am still not entirely certain that I have resolved the problem of the armscye rubbing, it does feel better so far – but I won’t know for certain until I have worn the dress for a day. Initially I assumed that I needed a forward shoulder adjustment as I often find that dresses slip back off my shoulders as I wear them and pull at the front as a result. For this I added half an inch to the shoulder seams on the back of the bodice and removed the same amount from the front. It is also possible that the problem simply came from sewing the bias binding at 2/8 instead of 5/8 seam allowance, making the bodice slightly wider than it should have been – I am endlessly struggling with shoulder related fit issues at the moment and I am not sure that I am any clearer on which adjustments I need!Anyway – time to focus on the positive – the print! I spotted this fabric at Clothspot a few months ago and asked for a sample. I knew I loved the print but initially I wasn’t sure what I would use it for and whether I might find that it was a bit ‘too much’ to actually wear. I finally ordered some when it came back into stock recently and decided that the pattern would work really well with the bodice detail of the Belladone.

I was worried that the print would be a bit overpowering, but I don’t find it so – unless I have just gone completely crazy? I love the thick black edging to the floral pattern, it makes me think of a Keith Haring style cartoon. I find the grey details and the darkness of the blue balance out the scale of the flowers and I think this is going to be really easy to wear.This is my entry for Dresses week as part of Indie Pattern Month 15 at the Monthly Stitch. I am aiming to enter something into every category this month so I have a lot of sewing ahead!

So – after a cold Me Made May is anyone else ready to make summer dresses and embrace some lovely prints?