Marguerite Dress – Sew Over It – Review

According to the Sew Over It measurement chart, I fall between a size 8 and 10.  I’ve sewn a lot of Soi patterns now and know that I need to go with the 10 otherwise the back comes out a bit narrow for me in an 8, so I did the same with Marguerite.

I did an initial tissue fitting and it showed me that I needed to lengthen the bodice by two inches and also do a forward shoulder adjustment.  I could also tell I had too much room in the back but decided to leave it until the fabric fitting to be sure.  In the end I needed to take 1 and 3/8s of an inch off both centre back seams to achieve a nice fit.

I found the Marguerite instructions to be really clear and the diagrams which go alongside them were useful.  The only part that I struggled with slightly was the sleeve cuff insertion.  I didn’t pay enough attention to the diagrams and had to unpick and re-do one of the seams (my fault and not the instructions) and overall, I found it difficult to get the cuffs to stay in position once sewn.  I did a few ‘invisible’ stitches to try and get the cuff to sit in place over the sleeve, but it still seems to want to roll back so I may do a few more!  There is some gathering within the dress both above and below the waistband.  For a fairly easy technique, I always find it a bit of a challenge to get gathering to be even throughout the seam its going into and this dress was the same.  I unpicked and re-did mine in places but maybe that’s my perfectionism getting in the way!  I did a rolled hem because of my lightweight fabric.  Those points aside, the sewing was relatively straight forward but I would agree with Sew Over It when they say its an advanced beginner to immediate level pattern.  I would say you need a few other dresses under your belt before you attempt this one.