Another Hot Patterns 1120: Primavera Dress

It's been 6 years since I first made this dress. (Old blog post here.) I'm much happier with this one than the last because I tweaked the fit better. And it doesn't look like a quasi skeleton costume (reference to previous fabric). Time flies, because I certainly wasn't planning on a 6-year break from the first try. This pattern is currently on clearance on the HotPatterns website. I guess it seems like an old pattern now to them, but it's actually still on trend. I would recommend the pattern. It's got some nice shaping and details that could be a bit tricky/time consuming to just hack yourself.

Once again, you're getting work bathroom selfies. I did get a new, more portable, little tripod thingie but I haven't tried it out yet so the bathroom it is. Wild-eyed sideways glance.

I already had the pattern cut from last time but I did need to review my notes to deal with the fitting problems. First up was raising the scandalously low neckline. Not quite sure who would ever wear it as it was. Even with the 2 inches I added, it's still on the low side on me, but I'm not flashing anyone anymore so that's good. The bust darts (which are French darts) needed no adjustment, nor did I need to add bust room.

Here's the finished dress on Zillie. The gathers at center front make me think I'm disguising my tummy. I'm probably not, but it's a good thought.

The pattern is originally designed with a facing which gets sewn into the waist seam. Since I recently finished the Turner dress, which has a fully lined bodice, it inspired me to ditch the facing and copy the lined bodice idea. I'm not a fan of facings in general and I usually have problems with HP's facings in particular so I try to eliminate them whenever I can. It did take a little reimagining the construction steps, but it wasn't too complicated.

In this photo below you can also see how the pockets are made. It's really one big pocket which spans the front of the skirt, but it functions as two separate sideseam pockets. Even though it's one piece and you could actually touch hands inside across it, you don't really notice it's not normal separate pockets since the shape is such that your hands just go downward and don't want to meet up.

Closer pocket bag pic. I recall having a hard time figuring out these pockets from the instructions the first time but I had no problem at all this time so I guess I was just being a blockhead before.

I did interface the pocket facing piece, which gives the opening a bit of stability, which you can see below.  You might also see that I forgot to snip the seam allowance to lay flat around the pocket facing and my sleeve hem needs a bit of trimming too. And by "needs," I mean I've already worn this as-is and am too lazy to go back and trim anything. ;-)

I did face the hem as per the instructions, and I understitched the joining seam before coverstitching the hem facing in place. I really like the extra something that a wide, faced hem adds to a knit dress. It just feels fancier and more substantial and it definitely hangs nicer.

The sleeves are kind of a hybrid between set-in and raglan. HotPatterns calls it semi-raglan. The armsyce is set inward further than a true set-in sleeve and there's a shoulder dart.

I didn't reshape the shoulder dart for my very square shoulders as I usually do with darted raglans and I love the semi-structured shape that resulted. Slight Crystal Carrington vibe, but my shoulders are narrow so the illusion of a little width there is a good thing on me.

The understitched inside neckline.

Below shows I edgestitched waistline to stabilize joining seam allowances, skipping the gathered areas. I used a small ZZ for this to allow some give when sitting, etc.

Rear view. Not quite as symmetric as I thought I had it laid out before cutting. Oh well. Plus, even though I adjusted the back this time, I still had to take in the CB seam about an inch at the neckline, tapering to nothing by mid upper back, and I still needed to remove an additional 3/4" from the back bodice length, tapering to nothing at the sideseams. You can see this if you're looking for it. Tweaking the fit would have been a whole lot easier if I had basted that CB seam instead of sewing it for reals AND adding the understitched lining. The dress had to stand in time out for a week before I wanted to deal with it again. But I'm glad I did. I really like the dress. It's comfortable any time but especially good for hot Florida summer days.

Me, still in that bathroom. Woo.

Parting funny shots. While I was nearly done sewing this dress, I noticed the spool was running dangerously low. I was on the homestretch attaching the hem facing, which would leave only coverstitching (with different thread spools) to do after this seam. Could I make it? It was going to be close.

And then the bobbin ran out. Yeah. (Really should get that bobbin sensor fixed.)

See ya next time! Click on my Instagram link in the upper right to see an animated me compiled of more work bathroom selfies than anyone needs.