Finished: Eiffel Tower Dress

 

You know, I tried really hard to think of some kind of clever, punning name for this dress. I really wracked my brains and came up with some terrible Eiffel/Trifle puns which are so bad I'm not going to share. As you can see, I went for the obvious in the end - but don't think for a minute that means that I don't love this dress, because yet again, Simplicity 4903 has come up trumps.

You may remember my recent duvet cover dress, which was a wearable muslin for this dress. You can read my full review of the pattern here.

I made it up with the same adjustments as before, except I added a larger shoulder adjustment. This resulted in me having a lot more arm movement (and who doesn't like being able to move their arms freely?) but I think I should only have adjusted extra on the back, as it is a little bigger in the upper chest than I would like.

No matter, I think it's still turned out well.

I am uber-chuffed with the sleeves. I have grown to hate and dread setting in sleeves but these are my best yet. The secret? Simply put, removing some of the ease at the sleeve cap which just happened when I corrected my over-adjustment for my wide shoulders by increasing the seam allowance at the top of the sleeve.

 

 And shouldn't all dresses have pockets?

I made extra effort to finish the inside nicely too - adding a lined skirt (made from amusingly-named pongee) with lace edging and using seam binding to finish at the zip. The seam binding isn't the neatest, as you can see from the photo, but it was my first time using it.

After getting worried about using crafting cotton for the sleeves, they turned out really well. I must of course mention the fab Michael Miller Eiffel Tower print fabric. I don't think the colours are the best for me (not as good as the el cheapo duvet cover dress, in fact) but it's certainly a 'conversation piece' dress.

The view from above, so you can see my sandals (Clarks) and this is truest to the actual colour of the dress

This isn't the last you'll see of this pattern, I'm definitely going to make a Winter version in wool too. Such is my love for Simplicity 4903 that I have given my Colette Peony pattern away to a friend - Simplicity 4903 forever!

K x