Looks Like I Made It: Simple Sew, Veronika Dress

Sunday, 9 September 2018

Simple Sew, Veronika Dress

The Veronika Dress from Simple Sew follows suit quite nicely from the lovely Lucille dress I stitched up back in May. Like Lucille, Veronika has two different skirt options a full circle skirt or a pencil skirt option. I opted for pencil skirt again as there is something that bit more wearable about them for me. The capped sleeves on the pattern look super cute but again not quite my thing so chose the sleeveless version.

The fabric was this fabulous flamingo print from Doughty's, a cotton lawn similar to the fabric I picked for Lucille. I chose a shimmery pink lining from Hillsborough for lining the skirt.

My initial toile suggested I need to take some out of the front bodice shoulder area. I cut a 10 but the bust was still too roomy (I swear they are getting smaller??). The back fit well so instead of taking it out at the shoulder seam I pinned out the excess on the front bodice. It was a good few inches but I'm small in the shoulders and the bust so a common alteration for me.

I took in just enough so the bust darts pointed to my widest bit of chest and the neckline lay flat without gaping. As this affected the armhole size I increased the seam allowance at the back of the armhole, then made sure to add this amount back on to the underarms of the facing.

My next alteration was in the skirt. Firstly I reshaped the hips a little and then set to work on changing the back darts. I have a tiny lower back so am quite used to having to faff about with these. It felt a bit flukey, but I got a good shape pretty quickly, extending the darts slightly and making them wider in the middle.

Due to the slight alteration in the side seams, I pinched a tiny bit out of the bottom side of waistband where the notch for the side seam is. This changed the shape from a straight line to slightly curved.

For once I didn't alter the length! I was really happy with the length, I think it looks dead classy!

It seemed to take an age to cut out all my pieces. I took extra care with pattern placement to make sure that my flamingos weren't all clumped together!

After that sewing up was simple! I love the fabric and the pattern and my alterations! I added a little extra interfacing around the front and back necklin to ensure they kept their shape.

I have just enough fabric left to make another bodice so tempted to make a Veronika or Lucille bodice with plain black skirt, maybe a franken-pattern of the two :)