Is there an expiration date on unblogged garments? It's not like any of you live near me and are thinking, "God Heather, I've seen you wear that dress for 3 months. You're blogging about it now? As far as you all know this dress never existed until now. Well if you've forgotten about any instagram progress posts in the summer of 2017. I'll just get out my "Men in Black" light stick forgetting thing and take care of those memories. Ha! Now let me tell you all about my "new dress" the Dragnor pattern from "
How to do Fashion."
Come to think of it I should have waited until it was summer and passed this off as a fresh new make. Ta Da, my hair is mysteriously less gray around the temples for one blog post. What is my secret! Witchy trickery of course. Definitely not living through 3 consecutive traumatic events that happened one after another in a space of 3 weeks. *insert crazed laughter* (Seriously though the 3rd quarter of my 2017 was a shit show which I can't really talk about since none of the events happened directly to me or my husband/kid. But I was only 1 degree removed so there was plenty of feelings and stress to drive me more than a little crazy. But enough about real life stuff that's a bummer, let's talk about sewing.)
So back in 2017 I'd been eyeing the How to do fashion site for a bit. Nanna's style is similar to my own and I always like trying new pattern brands to see what they're like. I chose to go with the Dragnor pattern because it looked like a good match for some vintage border print in the stash. See, look at the pretty fruity border!
I purchased the PDF version and had a positive experience with it. The layout of all the pattern tiles was nice and clear and I didn't have any trouble getting the pieces to fit together. As is my habit I traced a copy of the pattern onto trace paper and made my fitting changes on that version. One thing to note is that the sewing instructions are not in the PDF download. You need to go back to the website and
download another PDF. The link to the instructions is clearly marked in the pattern purchasing area, just thought I'd mention it. The dress itself was easy to put together. I like the fact that the bodice comes with a full lining, so you don't have to worry about neckline and armhole facings flipping around. There's also a nice amount of bra coverage for those of us who prefer not to wear strapless bras. (I'm definitely in this camp because strapless bras just end up at my waist.)
Overall this was a fun sew and I was excited to put this dress on......only to find it looked a lot better on the hanger than on me. Ru Ro Reorge. What went wrong?
- Maybe I'm too pale for this much white background. I hear some of you saying, "Don't worry Heather, you just need to wear this in the summer when you have more color." Well these pictures were taken at the end of summer sooooo this is my summer color. My aversion to the sun is good for the face wrinkle situation, but maybe not for wearing white.
- Maybe I got the proportions off a bit. Thanks to my low bust point the inset area had to be reduced 1" in width. The skirt length also might be a bit too long.
- Maybe a waist inset is not the best design feature on my body. Kind of highlights the whole pear shaped situation.
To be honest I'm not entirely sure why this is a bit of a miss. Maybe you guys can weigh in.
Pattern
Dragnor from How to do Fashion. I used the non draped neckline for my version.
Fabrics used
Vintage cotton border print bought from Etsy a number of years ago.
Pattern changes/alterations
1. Raised the front and back necklines about .5"
2. Made standard .5" forward shoulder adjustment.
3. Took .25" off strap height on both the front and back.
4. Added 1" of length to top of front bodice and removed 1" of length from waist inset.
Confessions/Advice
- I did try to fully line the entire dress for opacity but that created too much volume in the skirt area. The finished garment only has a lined bodice.
- Despite taking in the shoulder straps they still feel too long.
- I might have enjoyed this angry outtake so much that it became my FB profile pic until this month. Oh and strangers will DM you and ask why you're using such an unflattering picture as your profile. (For Irony, Duh!)
Husband Comment
"Red and white, first aid colors. You could be a nurse, a fruity nurse."
My Final Thoughts
Long story short, great pattern. My execution, not so much. So do any of you have thoughts on how to rework this dress? The fabric is so pretty and I don't want it to go to waste. I'd be ever so thankful for you recommendations.
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