 |
| 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?
