Dotty Anza Dress - Itch to Stitch

It's that gauze again!

Last seen on my Cielo dress in black, here's the green version in action. (The yellow is still biding its sweet time).

This dress is the Itch to Stitch - Anza Dress (& Jumpsuit) pattern - in dress format obviously.

I came across the dress on the Love Sewing magazine cover and liked the casual style of it. There seemed to be lots of details and a nice shape to the neckline so went for the download. It was inevitably massive so I admit to having it printed. Ain't no-one got time for that.

There it all came unstuck as once I'd cut my pattern pieces out - and just a warning - there are many, I could not figure out the magazine instructions for the life of me. So I bought the actual pattern, got proper instructions and felt generally much better about life.

(Well it feels a lot of pattern pieces to me, who makes 3 piece t-shirts all the time and rethinks life-choices if there's more than 6...)

It was a good meaty little project this one - after sewing many basics, it was nice to have a go at something a bit more involved. I wouldn't say more complex as the separate features are not massively difficult, just more time consuming. I think it took a couple of weeks in total, just doing bits of it here and there in my lunch break.

Can we just take a moment here to appreciate the god's of haberdashery who were on my side when it got to button day. It needed 4 buttons for the front bodice and low and behold, 4 glorious matching buttons were in my stash!!! (Found a while back from Textile Garden - my go-to button gal).

The pattern is really well drafted - there is cup-size options as well as normal sizing so a lot of folk will love that. I went for B cup and therefore no darts were needed. Lazy girl's dream. I graded the pattern between 12/14 without any modifications and it seems to be spot on. Next time, the bodice could come up by 1cm ish but that's just a minor niggle.

Just proving I ironed my fabric this time, check out the back crease hehe

I totally messed up the position of the button holes so I have one right next to the waist band that sticks out, and the top gapes a bit so I've sewn in closed. The dress can just pop over your head anyway its pretty roomy.

The dress is super comfy, there's a bit of a belt and braces job at the waist which is a bit weird. It has elastic casing AND a waist-tie. I did myself a favour by mistake in this respect as I didn't fold over the waist casing and applied it more like bias binding. Turns out it was a good job as the casing would never have been big enough for the elastic and tie as it was on the pattern piece.

If you're going to make this dress - double the width of the casing strip!! I've since since some other reviews of this dress who also say the same thing so glad its not just me being daft.

All in all a good and useful project - I've worn it several times now so a good sign!

Just a little note - not all projects are a success I just generally can't be bothered to write about the disasters (unless it was particularly comical). For example - my usual love of Closet Case Patterns designs was slightly blighted by the worst fitting trousers known to mankind when I tried the Pietra's! That was definitely a case of what suits one person will not suit everyone! The quest for trousers continues....

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