Okay, so I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog front. I’ve been consistently unwell since the honeymoon (a cold, not anything else!) and just haven’t been motivated to blog. I have still been sewing though. 🙂

I finally made the Laurel. Actually, I’ve made two; one dress, one top. I’ve also made another Sorbetto top with cap sleeves. At this stage I only have pictures of the dress so I’ll share. 🙂

This dress was the first pattern I’d done a full bust adjustment on. I did quite a bit of pattern adjustment on this; not all positive. Read on… 😉

Initially, I graded the pattern from a size 12 at the bodice (from my high bust measurement) to an 18 at the skirt. I lowered the neckline by 2 inches as usually (as I’m big busted) high necks don’t look so hot. Then I did the FBA, adding 2 inches. I was concerned about the arm hole after doing the FBA as it seemed to get smaller and sharper at the front edge of the armscye. Anyone else have this problem?

After putting everything together with French seams, I tried on the dress. As suspected, the arm holes were really high and quite tight. The back was also a little tight, probably should have done a size 14. I also sewed the zip in and when I did it, I didn’t catch the seam allowances so there were holes between the zip and the dress. I also had HEAPS of fabric pooling at my sides. I guess a two size grading + FBA isn’t a good recipe.

So to fix it, I just sewed up the centre back (I could still get it on without the zip) and sewed up the sides until it fit a bit better. Unfortunately this destroyed most of my pretty French seams but now I get a better fit. I also deepened the arm holes. I still have heaps of fabric at the front and the arm holes cut a little but I’ve learned a lot of lessons from this make and I still love the dress so I’ve worn it twice since I completed it last weekend. It’s also made out of fabric I thrifted on my honeymoon so there’s happy memories attached to it too. The dress is quite comfortable (apart from the slight cutting at the front of the arm holes) so I’ll definitely wear it tons more. I might cinch with a belt though to alleviate the bloaty look of the extra fabric. Pity it’s moving towards winter here in Oz so I’ll need to pop it away for next summer soon. 😦

So here’s me wearing it, along with my new post-wedding hair. You have no idea how much a relief it is to have A LOT less hair. Will need to invest in some scarves for winter though! 😉