Deer-y me!

In my last post I mentioned I was after a good dress pattern with a big skirt and simple neckline. I'd been considering various options, but on Wednesday evening I spotted Simplicity's 2444 and was swayed by the gorgeous pleats, darts, and the multitude of different options. This pattern has optional pockets, three sleeve options, and an optional waist tie, collar stand and cape. Also I found it on sale for less than £5, and it had lots of good reviews. Check, check, check! I ordered it immediately and it arrived the next day.

I had already bought some polycotton reindeer fabric (link) to make up a (potentially wearable) toile, and I was so excited to get started!

One of the first things I had to do was join the two front panels of the skirt. I'd just been practising French seams so decided to use them here. Look how pretty!

French seams <3 I'll work on pattern matching later...

I'd never made inseam pockets before, and they're a bit of a revelation for me. They were super satisfying to sew and just as satisfying to use!

I was not nearly attentive enough when I'd cut the pieces, and basically barely bothered to mark the positions of the darts which was a really silly mistake as they're the main feature of the dress. I ended up scrappily marking them from the pattern (which I'd already put away) and doing lots of guesstimating, turning what should have been a nice easy part of the project into a frustration. Thankfully I've learnt my lesson and have been carefully transferring the pattern markings on everything I've made since. Maybe I'm not as stubborn as I think I am sometimes... But I digress.

This was also my first invisible zipper make, and I got so use my special foot for the first time.

Brother concealed zipper foot from amazon: link

It was still fiddly, but I think I've got the hang of it now, and I don't think it turned out too badly. Oh, though I was originally planning to make a Sew Over It Betty dress, which has a lower neckline at the back, so ordered a 16 inch zip when I should have used a longer one's. As a result I can only get this dress on over my head... Not really a problem but something that definitely could have turned out a lot worse!

Overall I was happy that this was wearable for Christmas day - though I accept most people probably wouldn't be caught dead in it!

Having really only made Tilly patterns in the past in definitely missed the clarity of her instructions when following this pattern, and I found some of the instructions for zips and facings both different to methods I've used since I started sewing, and not quite clear enough for a me as a beginner to feel confident in what I was doing. Hopefully it'll all make a bit more sense next time I try this one out.

Lessons learnt

• Zip practise
• Copy the pattern markings
• Don't save tidying up the loose threads until the end!