Sunday, June 10, 2012

Butterick 5672 - what a wadder!!

You know the beginning of the story I'm sure: You see a great dress Pattern Review, the reviewer says it was really easy but you kind of doubt that that style will work on you. You see the same dress again and again - they all look fantastic, on every           single          body           shape. Joy, oh joy, I've even got that pattern! A couple of people say that they had to take the side seams in because of the Big4's ease but apart from that it was a piece of cake and wow, it looks great on all of them! Ok, you'll have to do a sway back alteration but that's standard, no    big     deal - I'm whipping this baby up this afternoon!


Well, here's the end of the story: You are the one person in the world that this dress does not work on!!!! You knew it deep down but you went ahead anyway. When will you learn? This is not the first time this has happened either - wise up!


Now for the middle of the story: I removed the ridiculous amount of ease that Butterick has put into the pattern for this dress - I think I ended up with a size -58 for the waist by the time I was done, and it was still too big in the waist. I thought I'd get away with not doing an FBA - as you can see from the pics, I was dead wrong on that score.  As if all of that wasn't enough, I made so many incredibly stupid mistakes making this dress (and often, the same one, over and over and over) that I started to wonder if I had early onset alzheimers - oh, you have no idea.

And looky, looky - what a droopy mess it is. (Not to mention that the sway back adjustment that I'd had pinned and marked perfectly and then took out in a flash of idiocy I could not replicate.)  Those side views .......... I'm ready for a joey. I could say I was going for the juxtaposition of tight and droopy in the same garment but I'd be telling a lie.


However, I am me and decided, I can fix this. Delusional! After some more marathon pinning to try to determine if pulling it up here and across there and generally all over the place would work, this is what I ended up with (no, I didn't even bother to turn the machine on this time, I wasn't that delusional).


It's kind of hard to see but I've taken more than an inch (prob. closer to two) out of the waist and down the hip - it's sticking out but you can kind of see a line down the right side. A lot less marsupialesque from the side but still adding weird bulges where I don't need them. Incredible amounts of strain around the left bossom (it looks like it's staging a break out). Those side seams are creeping around to the front. A bit too tight across the derrriere. I know the pics are a bit crooked but I think the back hemline is coming up. All that and and it is still a bit droopy at the front.

I finally, officially give up on this dress, it is just not for me and I don't think there is any saving it. I think this is the first time I have admitted defeat without even planning to reuse the fabric for something else. Bye bye maroon dress, it wasn't a pleasure and I never want to see you again.

Maybe I need to start looking for patterns that didn't work for anyone?

EDIT: Apparently one other PR review had a similar experience, so I'm not alone.




6 comments:

  1. It's always so disappointing when this happens! I had this experience with the Colette Peony pattern.

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    1. It is now sitting in a crumpled heap in the sewing room to serve as a threat to subsequent dresses. After hearing my tale of woe, my mother suggested putting a pair of scissors on top of the pile to strengthen the threat.

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  2. Thanks for a good laugh (with you, not at you - I've been there too) - the side views are definitely better after your alteration, but I wouldn't approach anyone head-on! I think PR should have a filter by body type, so I can just see what other pears are making. That way I wouldn't be tempted to try a dress that's gorgeous on women who do FBA's.

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    1. It just wasn't going to work was it? Not to fear though, apparently at one point I was in a side pleat funk and bought at least three patterns with side pleats - something surely has to work, I actually have a RTW dress with side pleats that looks great. I am determined!

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  3. I read the reviews... they DO look great. I am currently being disappointed by Simplicity 3673. http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/patterns/sewingpatterns.pl?patternid=16094. It really doesn't look good on me so far. I haven't given up yet, but I have a fear it will also end up in a heap on the sewing room floor.

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    1. Oh yes, that one is in my stash. I chose a bird print fabric for it and tigerboy keeps asking me when I am going to make it (give a girl a chance, I've only had the fabric for a couple of years!). Looks so good on everyone else but I have a funny feeling about it - I can see some major dart alterations coming.

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