New year, new dress

I’m not really into this whole New Year’s Eve thing where people look back on the past year and forward to the next and reminisce about everything that’s happened and make huge plans for the coming year. Maybe it’s because I have the worst memory and just forgot most of what I did, or maybe it’s because growing up we never even knew where or when we would go on summer holiday until a day in advance (there were always several options for departure days  and destinations, depending on when my dad finished work and what the weather was like), so making big plans is just not something I do, especially not for an entire year!

Fact of the matter is, my studies are keeping me more than occupied and even my plans to sew a Christmas dress went out of the window because I couldn’t finish it in time. So instead I wore a rtw dress I bought in England on sale three years ago, which I did shorten a bit because it had an awkward length for me, does that still count?

However, this week I managed to finish a dress I started two months ago. It’s the Harriet dress from La Maison Victor, edition November/December 2015. I like the design a lot, but it turned out just not to be so very flattering on me (or maybe I’m just not very flattering). I’ll show you why.

I’m pretty happy with the bodice fit, although there is some room above my bust, which I could probably lose by adjusting the princess seams. I love the sleeves with the folded hem. However, I think the bodice is a little too long and the skirt is really not flattering on me. It’s a panelled skirt with pockets in the side seams and hugs my belly just too tight.

Also, wow, my back is just not pretty like this! But let’s not focus on that but instead look at the backdrop I chose for today’s photos. There are murals all over Heerlen (where I live), mostly covering up empty buidings or graffiti-prone walls. This one features a tiny picture and the woman on the right is actually pouring out the orange paint onto the street. It’s a bit damaged from wear and tear, though.

Some of the murals are huge, like this one. Some are more beautiful than others, but overall it livens up the streets and I really like them.

Maybe it’s the fact that it’s plain, maybe I really should lose weight again. The fabric for this dress is punta di roma, quite heavy, nothing wrong with it, other than it not being floral 😉

Construction-wise, it has 15 pattern pieces, times 2. Most of the seams are serged then topstitched, which is time-consuming but pretty. I installed an invisible zipper, a red one, but I messed up bigtime, stitching too close to the zipper teeth and it broke, so I installed a black one instead, only to realise I really didn’t need it. (So far, none of the zippers I have installed in dresses have been necessary, which says something about my bodice fittings skills I think…

Overall, I like the design on this dress, but it needs some New Dress resolutions:

• better upper bust fitting
• a different skirt (I’m thinking of the June dress skirt)
• me losing weight

And I’ll add one more: actually sewing something once a month. Okay, you caught me, I do make plans sometimes…. Check back next month to see how I’ve got on. 🙂

For now, I’ll leave you with my mural collage and Happy New Friday to you! And wow, blog writing and watching Homeland really don’t go together, I’ve spent over two hours on this post…

(PS more at http://www.heerlenmurals.nl/en/)