The Troublesome Truffle


Truffle front
This dress has been an experience in hubris and not cutting corners.

Truffle side
At first glance the dress looks okay, but those gaping underarms will forever haunt my dreams. And the back has a little bit of bagginess by the shoulder blades. This all equates horrible in my book.

Truffle back
Two things led to this disaster. First, I lost weight since the last Colette pattern I made. With my Pastille I cut an 18 and did an 1 inch FBA. The resulting bodice was nearly perfect. But this time, I cut a size 16 for the Truffle skirt, yet still cut an 18 for the bodice, thinking this would save me a FBA. Wrong!  Lesson learned, don't cut a bodice for my full bust, but go a size or two down and adjust. This way it'll fit through the shoulders and armholes. Instead, my version has gaping armholes.

You can also see the side seam pulling forwards
The other issue was I completely forgot about the swayback adjustment I made to the Pastille. I was so eager to be sewing something again I went straight for my final fabric and decided to take care of fit issues along the way. My eventual solution was to just take 3 inches from each shoulder of the bodice back, and smooth out the curves. I didn't do anything with the darts like I should've. This meant the darts were off and the neckline was compromised.

Puffy back with new neckline
On the plus side, the Truffle's skirt fit perfectly and I used up some black twill from my stash (previously used to line the boyfriend's costume vest). The shell was a quilting fabric I bought early last year. Plus I sewed my very first invisible zipper using my new invisible zipper foot! Still partially a success.

Invisible zipper from the inside
I also worked really hard on the internal finishes. This fabric frays like crazy, so I did french seams on the sides, bias tape for the back seam, and an overlock stitch for the hem. 

Bias bound back seam

French seams and hem
Despite the fit issues I still plan on wearing the dress. I have several RTW dresses with the same gaping problem and I wear them all the time! If I'm willing to wear store bought stuff that doesn't fit quite right, why not something I worked hard on?


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