In case you hadn’t noticed, most of the things I sew are either for the kids or for gifts. For some reason I just get more excited about making teeny tiny clothes. Maybe it’s because they get finished so much more quickly. Or maybe it’s because I love taking pictures of the finished products on my tiny models. For whatever reason even when I see a project, pattern or tutorial and think I “simply MUST sew that!” it still takes me weeks or sometimes months to get around to it. Such is the case with the coffee date dress, which I first saw on the Grosgrain blog (have you seen it? It’s FABULOUS!)

I liked the style of the dress immediately and I also liked the fact that the tutorial was broken up into such nice manageable chunks of sewing complete with useful photos. Perfect for me since I’m still a little wary of sewing things for myself. I wanted a bright and cheerful dress so I picked out this blue fabric and I also liked the addition of the sash so I picked a fun yellow to go with it. I considered doing a white top and blue skirt like the tutorial shows but I was worried that the top would be too transparent (necessitating some sort of camisole underneath) and decided not to do it. I really wish I had as I like the color of the dress but I think there might be a bit too much of it. Oops. Live and learn. I also made my first attempt at installing an invisible zipper (following this invisible zipper tutorial) and while I thought I followed it to the letter, the zipper is in, works and is not offensive to look at, but it is definitely NOT invisible (oops again). My only other real stumbling block was with sizing. I measured myself and tried to find my size on the burda chart. I have a weirdly large rib cage (or something like that) because my chest measurement put me at a larger size than the rest of my measurements and I was worried that the bodice was going to be too snug. I was actually debating between two sizes and went with the smaller one (thank goodness) and the dress is still too roomy. I think I am going to take it in right around the waist area. I’m not sure what that’s going to do to the sash which is why I’ve held off for now.

Other than that I’m pretty pleased with the result. I had Ben take a few pictures of me wearing it so that I could show off on the blog. I really need to get lessons in posing for the camera because I’m absolutely terrible at it. Usually it goes something like this – I stand awkwardly looking away from the camera because I don’t know what to do. Ben takes a picture, makes fun of me for not looking at the camera or looking sad, so I look up and make a goofy face that I’m later embarrassed about.

Exhibit A

and Exhibit B – even goofier face still