Playing hide and seek with sewing success

Hello all you good people!

I just want to thank all of you who commented on my last post, in which I shamelessly shared my un-enthusiasm about my mailorder sundress (along with my tired after-work-face, undone hair, and general lack of styl(ing)). I had lots of great input, and ideas on what to do to de-frump it, and I am very greatful!

I have not yet got around to do anything about it, but it is happily simmering on the back burner, until I feel the *need* to fix it. I have bought some new buttons for it actually, so it is slowly coming along :)

In an attempt to make myself feel better, I decided to start a new dress!

Oh yes!
I had some lovely cotton satin fabric with this great tropical leaf print in my stash, that I specifically bought to make a tiki/sarong skirted dress of some sort. The fabric patiently waited for it's perfect pattern match for nearly two years, and I finally found it in Butterick #5880. It is a reissue of a 1951 pattern. I was lucky and found the pattern on sale on the Butterick page, and downloaded the pdf. I decided on a size (12), and got cutting. The bodice, with full lining and all, went together like a breeze, as did the skirt. I pulled the bodice on just to try it, before the zipper went in.

Oh the shock and horror! It was way too tight! Oh no! I quickly pinned the skirt panels together, and realized there was no way in corseted Hell that dress would fit me. And I had used all my fabric too, so no recutting. You would think I had learned by now to make a frikkin' muslin already, but no... This winging business has got to stop. In my defense, I didn't have any fabric that I wanted  to make a muslin out of, so I just crossed my fingers.

Would've been so pretty... sigh.

In my defense #2; I did ask around on Facebook sewing groups about this pattern, and there was the general consensus that this pattern had lots of ease. Every dress I've made to date has come out a tad big, so I decided to swing the other way, and size down. I also had a hard time finding the size chart on the pdf, and midway through the process, I found notes of the finished garments measurements scattered about on the pattern pieces.

At the end of the day, it was entirely my own fault, I got eager and cocky, and ended up with a boo-boo. Anyway, I am going to finish the dress and try to find it's smaller than me owner.
I am sad, and bummed, since this would have been the perfect fabric/pattern match, and that I don't have any more of this fabric. But I will have a Butterick #5880 dress! I love the look of it, and already got some new fabric for it :)


I need to build some sewing confidence first, so I opted to sew something non-fitted before I try my hand at these  
(£"#€%>¤&@) dresses again. What more perfect than a nice pajama set?

It has been on my list for a long time, and the Carolyn Pajama-pattern from Closet Case Files was love at first sight. I am making the shorty short version (C) and so far they are looking quite lovely!

I hope to share some sewing success with you guys very soon!
Wish me luck (again), I obviously need it :D  Heh!

Wishing you all good sewing success,
and happy sewing!!