Floral Vikisews Patterns Courtney Dress

 

Sewing projects are often a strange mix between those that turn out exactly as planned, those worse than planned and those better than planned. This dress was the latter of these. It's not that I was expecting it this dress to turn out badly, more that I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I do! The sewing process was tricky in terms of fit which is always slightly demoralising, but I'm very pleased that I persevered with it. 

The pattern that I used for this dress is the Vikisews Courtney Dress, which I've made once before as a top. I mentioned more details about using a Russian pattern in this post, but in summary the step-by-step photos provided were enough to understand the construction. I really love the bodice of this pattern and always planned to make the dress version. The different panels give the dress a lovely shape and also provide a great opportunity for topstitching, which I added to all the seams.

A simple adjustment that I made to the pattern - which makes a big difference to the dress - was to level off the back bodice. On the original pattern the back bodice is curved around the arm and comes up about 2" higher (you can see this clearly on my Courtney Top). I chose to have the back bodice go straight across, which I find much prettier. All it involved was folding down the pattern piece at the armhole and changing the facing shape.

The cotton fabric that I used was great in terms of holding its shape but not quite so good when it came to unpicking. I had to baste and unpick the front skirt panels several times to get the fit right and each time the fabric frayed a little more, This wouldn't be a problem if I made the dress again as I now know the changes to make to the fit and would be able to sew it correctly without the need for unpicking, but I was a little worried that the skirt would fall apart! In the end it was fine, and adding the topstitching to the seams also helped to secure the fabric so that it wouldn't continue to fray. 

I did really enjoy sewing with a cotton fabric, which isn't something that I often do. I tend to use jersey fabrics for tops and jumpers, with drapey fabrics such as viscose for skirts and dresses. The closest I come to using fabric without any stretch is usually denim, but cotton is even nicer to sew with! Cotton is also a great fabric to use when it comes to pressing the seams, it's nice to be able to give everything a crisp, neat finish.  

I'd definitely recommend using a cotton for this pattern, it's a good stable fabric that will allow the dress to hold its shape. However, I did make a mistake in deciding to omit the interfacing in the upper bodice. When I made this pattern previously I used a linen fabric which was more heavyweight and didn't require interfacing. With the cotton, the curved edges of the bodice wouldn't stay in place and the whole thing just looked untidy. I unpicked the curved edges from the front bodice and, rather than adding interfacing to these, I cut a new set of the pattern pieces out and interfaced those. The result is so much better, I actually can't believe how much of a difference the interfacing made!

It was the fit of the skirt which caused several issues when making this dress. I knew from making the bodice previously that it was a little tight across the back, so I added 1" to the centre back seam when cutting out the pattern pieces. This allowed me to make any adjustments after trying on the dress before adding the zip. I also thought that the skirt might be too tight across the hips so I added a bit of extra width to that when cutting the fabric and basted the side seams in place. The extra fabric I added across the hips is what caused me to baste and unpick the seams several times, fraying the fabric and adding to my frustration. It was definitely worth it in the end though, I'm very pleased with the fit and now I'll know the adjustments to make for next time.

One of my favourite little details of this dress is the mini split I added to the skirt. I hacked the skirt pattern pieces to have three panels at the front (this is something that I did on my prom dress and this midi skirt) and I love having the panels and topstitching there. It made sense to add a little split as a nod to the panelling which is otherwise concealed by the busy print. I finished the dress with deep double hem which makes the whole thing feel very neat and professional.

I actually intended this dress to be a wearable toile of my prom dress. At this point I don't think prom will be happening, but I'm very glad to have made this dress anyway. I've now made the necessary changes to my pattern fo fit correctly next time, so I'd definitely like to make it again. I only ever wear dresses in the summer and even then infrequently, but I do love being able to wear dresses that I've made. This one will join my floral Shelby Dress that I made last year and I'm looking forward to wearing it.

[This fabric was given to me by Minerva in exchange for a blog post]