Project! A B6453 in Holiday Plaid

Pattern: Gertie for Butterick - B6453. I LOVE this dress and after originally making it in 2019, I always intended to make a few versions. It's a TNT pattern, is so flattering and easy to wear. Somehow, I never got around to another, until NOW.

Materials: 5 yards of vintage lightweight shirting from Remainders Craft Thrift Store, my dream Christmas plaid. However, this fabric is *very* sheer and so I had to completely underline the bodice in white cotton. 

*thats* what my hair looks like from the back?

Cost: The fabric was $17 for 5 yards. I also purchased a vintage zip from Remainders for 50 cents. All other materials and notions are from Deep Stash and their monetary value has been lostttt to tiiiimmmeee. So we'll say the project total was $17.50. 

Timeline: I bought the fabric in November, but didn't start sewing until December, and finished around the second week of December. 

Funny story about why it took me so long to start: I thought this lightweight shirting would be PERFECT for this dirndl pattern from Gertie - B6322. Gorgeous and it looks fairly simple to put together. 

Except... I don't HAVE that pattern, I have THIS dirndl pattern - B6352. 

This pattern is, in my opinion, the superior pattern but it's also much more difficult and I didn't discover my mistake until about a week before I planned to wear the dress to a party (which was, of course, canceled). So I went back to my pattern stash and chose B6453.

Sizing, mods, changes and notes on fitting: Since I had already done the hard work of fitting this bodice in 2019, I used that as my starting point, which was possibly a mistake. I am slightly bigger now than I was then so I simply tried on my dress form 2019 and then approximated how much I needed to add to the side seams in order for it to fit. It was about 2", so I thought I could get away with it. I made a new bodice muslin and everything seemed to fit well, but I do not love the final product. The bodice is an inch or so too long and the overall fit of the princess seams is a little weird. The bodice could also be a bit off because, as I said, this was a very sheer fabric and I underlined all the bodice pieces with muslin. Since I wore it mostly layered this year, I didn't mess with it, but it will need some fitting tweaks before I wear it again next Christmas. 

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In terms of construction, I again followed Gertie's B6453 Sew Along on her old blog for this dress. I did an FBA on the bodice in 2019, and added 1/2" to the side seams this year. I also re-drew the facings to match. Other than that, I sewed the dress as written. Oh, and I cheated on matching my plaids by cutting the side bodice pieces on the bias. So the center back seam was the only place I had to match!

Feelings about this project: I love the fabric, I love the pattern, but the dress is meh due to fitting issues. There's always next year!

Feelings about the world: I'm feeling strangely optimistic about 2022, despite raging covid cases and increased restrictions. I guess I am just determined not to spiral out right now.