Sharon Sews

I was hooked the moment I saw this dress in the Burda May 2010 issue. So simple. So trendy. So easy to sew. So flattering on so many, like here and here and the nine reviews at PatternReview . So not loving it. Yes, it was indeed very simple - and easy - to sew. After all there are only a five pattern pieces and that's if you count the facing for the neckline. But I think my aversion to tight fitting clothes worked against me this time as the lower portion of the dress is much too lose. The total effect on me is one big, wide shapeless box. You can't really tell I have a waist, unless I keep my hands on my hips... ...or up in the air. Which might look rather odd at the office don't you think? When I grab about five inches of fabric and pull it to the backside the look is closer to the what the design was meant to be. Perhaps if I removed the waistline elastic, removed the skirt, sewed it smaller, pegged the hem, resewed the skirt and added the elastic I'd wear it.

This version of McCall's 5752, the Perfect Knit Dress, looks amazingly similar to the pattern cover, thanks to the fact that I sewed a dress using the exact fabric as one of the samples. The fabric was purchased late last summer with the intent of having this dress sewn and ready to wear when spring rolled around. Well, there was no sewing going on for quite some time after we learned of my son's brain tumor . That changed about a month or so ago as his initial treatment ended, he moved back home and life slowly returned to as normal as it is likely to be. As I reentered my sewing studio I began pulling out planned projects along with projects that had already been cut out. This dress was one of those. You know, when I sewed this dress the first time I was always a bit bugged by the ruched mid-section. Eventually I quit wearing it and it was donated to a local thrift store. Thinking it was my choice of fabric that I was unhappy with the first time around (a very soft rayo

Because this skirt would show every little bump. But I want it. I don't know why. I just do. In case you're wondering, this is Vogue 1202 , one of the Vogue fall 2010 patterns. *********************************************