Sewing: Petal Party Dress

I am not 100% sure on this latest creation.   It is a bit loud.  (Some of you are probably laughing when I say a bit.)   It is a lot of print, and a lot of BOLD print at that.  However, I love print...and I love pretty fabric.   So being able to walk around in pretty fabric does lend a smile to my face.  I will admit it.

Fabric Information:
Petal Party in Pink by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics (Part of the Farmer's Market Collection)
Vintage Dot in Pink by Sandi Henderson for Michael Miller Fabrics (Part of the Ginerblossom Collection)

The shape of the dress, however, is not my favorite.  Usually, even when sewing with a bad pattern, I can mess with it enough so that I am able to get it looking at least half-way decent.  Well, I messed with this dress A LOT.  I fussed, I fiddled.  I re-drafted.  I cut.  I tore seams.  And after all of that work, this was the best I could get the dress to look.  

Back of dress

The dress doesn't look too bad when I stand.  However, when I sit, the tummy area kind of baloons out a bit doesn't make me feel very great while wearing it.  And no matter how I fussed with the waistband and skirt, I wasn't able to get it to stop doing it.  I will probably wear it again---because the fabric is very fun.  However, I will not be sewing this same dress pattern again. 

Ignore the wrinkles.  I have been wrangling children all day.  :)

Pattern Information:
This dress is a bit of a Franken-dress.  
It started off as New Look 6774.  But don't pick up New Look 6774 thinking you are going to get a dress that looks like this.   Because I made some major modifications to this dress in order for it to even become a wearable item.

New Look 6774 Cover

New Look 6774 is a "mix and match" pattern that allows the seamstress to design her own look by mixing various skirts, bodice, and waistbands together.  The cover makes the pattern look really cute and fun.  But don't be deceived my friends! 

I cut pieces I+J+K, which is basically that knee length coral dress in the photo above.  But using the pieces as-is, you will never get a dress that fits like the cover picture above.  The bodice pieces are just funky looking...and no matter how I fussed, re-gathered, tore out, and messed with the bodice, I just couldn't get it to look right. 

I should have listened...
Before I sewed this dress I kept reading pattern reviews online where other seamstresses WARNED me that this pattern did not fit well.  However, did I listen?  NO!  That would have been way too easy.  I threw caution to the wind and I just decided to cut the pattern as is---and what did I learn?  I learned that I should have LISTENED to you fellow sewing bloggers!   It would have saved me several hours worth of frustrating trial and error with sewing this dress.

I ended up completly scraping the bodice as is.  After I messed with it for several hours, I came to the conclusion that it didn't even have "good bones" in which to modify.  So I ended up drafting my own front and back AND waistband.   So really the only part of the dress that is original to New Look 6774 is the skirt...and I have to admit that is my least favorite part of the dress. 

I also modified the skirt by adding in pockets.  Really deep and nice pockets.  Because every mama needs pockets.  (Am I right? Or am I right?!) 

De-Stashing My Fabric:
I am also trying to use fabric from my existing fabric stash before I buy anything new.   I didn't have enough of the Petal Party fabric so I compensated with adding a contrasting waistband and a contrasting hem band in order to actually get a dress out of the little fabric I had.

I actually think that that makes the dress much more interesting.   However,  I can't even begin to tell you how hard this dress was to cut out because I had to scrape and use ever bitof the petal party fabric in order to get the dress to work.  I even used the bias as hem allowance in order to make it work. 

Special Little Touches:
One of the fun things about making your own clothes is that you can add special little touches which make your clothes extra special.    One touch that I started to add was adding a special trim to my skirt linings.  I saw this idea out there on flikr and have been using it on all of the dresses I sew. 

Little detail added to the hem line of the lining.

Thanks Everyone for Reading!!