Put a Bird on this Butterick 6182

This Lisette design, B6182, was an unplanned project. I found this lovely white cotton birds & vines print for sale in my local Fabricland and decided to buy 1.6 m to make the skirt in this wardrobe pattern. But when I got home I thought -- what an interesting dress this would make, even though the dress called for 2.2 m.

 

 

Fortunately for me, I'm quite short...and so I laid out the pattern with about 1/4" to spare between pieces and from the edges of the fabric. Hurrah! There was even a square left over the in-between spaces big enough to cut two pockets taken from the skirt design, with a bird in the centre of each -- with a little bit of moving things around first.

              

This was quite an easy sew, though I dithered for a full day over whether I should finish the neckline with the bias facing as called for, or finish it by lining the dress with a soft white cotton. In the end I decided that wearing a slip would be effective against the see-through nature of the fabric and just used the bias facing. 

I don't often wear this kind of flared, a-line silhouette, but I really like it. I think when a loose shift like this fits at the shoulders & bust, it keeps it from looking like just an oversize sack. I do wish I'd added a bit of circumference to the sleeves though; they fit, but quite closely. That's my own fitting issue, though, not a pattern problem.

This is a straightforward pattern, with only 4 pattern pieces - front, back, sleeve band & bias neck facing. Plus the extra addition of the pocket piece, which I stole from the skirt! It sews up easily, and the unusual front bust dart adds a little extra interest, and fitting help as well. 

I feel like it's a dress you could wear to an art gallery...hence the pictures, taken at our local Gallery Stratford, which is currently exhibiting a wonderful show by Connections Fibre Artists which I have really enjoyed. Amazing textile arts! 

 

This dress is also a very last minute make for the Monthly Stitch's monthly challenge: actually it is doing double duty for this month's celebration of the fourth anniversary of the Monthly Stitch -- it has 4 pattern pieces -- and June's "Put a Bird On It" theme. It suits both!

I was also lucky enough to find the perfect string of beads at the thrift shop just before wearing this dress to work for the first time :)

Hopefully I will get to that skirt, as well, some day...

My artistic shot, against a huge black monolith on the grounds...