Not as simple as it looks

I bought about 5 metres of this gorgeous viscose-poly jacquard fabric from The New Craft Store and had it sitting in the stash gathering dust when we got invited to a big posh wedding, so a search for a jacquard-friendly pattern turned up this. I did a toile first in size 16 only to realise that despite having lost a few kilos recently, I am not yet a 16 so I had to buy the pattern again to get an 18 size in the next block up. Then I worked out I needed yet more fabric. Many pounds of expenditure later, this is the result.

As with all the Big 4/Big 5 pattern houses, the instructions are not as user-friendly as ones written by independent designers but I’m getting better at deciphering them and it came together well. Invisible zippers have long been my Kryptonite but a few YouTube tutorials helped me crack the code and this one went in snuggly. Getting the front wings to sit proud was more challenging and once I had finished it and put it on for the wedding I realised I was exposing more boobage than I would have liked, but luckily a friend had a safety pin. I make make a rouleaux hoop and button closure for more modesty eventually.  But all in all I’m chuffed with the final result and enjoyed the gasps of incredulity when I told people I’d made the frock myself.