Dress #2 - Shirt Dress UFO?

This week on sewweekly.com, the feature is UFO sewing projects, ‘those pieces that have tormented us for longer than we'd like admit’. I’m thinking about submitting my shirt dress, as I’m just finishing it off this week and it's been a work in progress over about 4 months now – literally just one buttonhole left to do on it now (I ran out of thread!). However, everyone else’s projects look so professional and have amazing model-style photos, so I’m not sure whether or not my project would be up to standard. Maybe if I find some artsy abandoned railway (and learn how to pose!) I might get somewhere near! Like Jennifer’s ‘Touch of Pink Skirt’ or ‘Not So Sunny’ dress – I will never be able to produce photos as good as those!

So, for now at least, I’m only sharing this one with lucky ol’ you, in the Sew Weekly style:

The Facts:

Fabric: from 1st for Fabrics, brown-black polyester-cotton weave, £20ish plus cotton floral contrast fabric £5ish
Pattern: Simplicity Project Runway 2403
Year: 2010
Notions: 12″ zipper (£3, John Lewis), 6 x 0.5” buttons (£2.50, eBay)
Time to complete: about 3 months (not solidly! Maybe 20-25 hours?)
First worn: To work, yesterday!
Wear again? I think so – although the fit is a bit annoying…
Total cost: At a guess, about £30

These are the only photos of the dress I have so far and were hastily taken, so that I could email them to my mum to show her my latest achievement! I’m really sorry about the poor quality! Anyway here's a close-up of the waist without the sash, which I added separately using a purpose-drawn pattern:

Overall I'm pretty pleased with the results of my second ever self-made dress, the waistband and the placket look professional ('placket' is a new dressmaking term I learned meaning the bit where the buttons go!). I'm perhaps a little disappointed with the fit - when I sit down, I do get that annoying puffed-up chest effect which seems to be because there's too much fabric between the neck and the waist. I should have shortened the torso part of the pattern before I made it, but the measurements had seemed ok. For my first ever fully-completed dress though, I think I can be forgiven!

It was pretty funny wearing this to work yesterday, I was really self-conscious but nobody commented, which I think is a good thing! - but I'd totally forgotten about how I'd been waiting to finish the last buttonhole when I took the photos, so I'd just tacked the two sleeve parts together for the photos, and then wore it like that to work and of course the sleeve went 'ping' and opened on the way to work! Nightmare - but thank heavens, I quickly located a needle and thread in a desk drawer and botched it back together. Phew! Anyway it was the first time I've ever worn a self-made dress out in public and it felt just great, I felt pretty proud!