Butterick 5486

Here's the great reveal of the Blah Dress briefly mentioned here.



I don't think my displeasure is due to the pattern, Butterick 5486, but more about the size I chose and the style on my body. This pattern called for for a knit with moderate stretch. I used a stretchy bamboo jersey. That, coupled with the fact that my last knit dress was a tad roomy in the size 10 made me cut the size 8. It's just too small all around. Straining around the armholes, too high-waisted, and too short for this style (I didn't have enough fabric for the full skirt length anyway). I also don't like the shape of the straps on my shoulder. This mid-width makes my shoulders look mammoth. I think I need thin straps, or a wide one to my shoulder.

I tried to justify keeping this dress. Though it won't work for the Baby Shower I'd envisioned it for, it would make a nice beach dress. I like the wrap style, and in theory, I like the full skirt. I don't think it looks as bad in the photo as I feel it is in person. But in the end, I just don't love this dress at all. It would probably sit in the back of my closet for a year or two until I could bring myself to get rid of it.

So this morning, I hacked off the skirt, which has a lot of gathered fabric in it, and I'm going to try to salvage it into this top.

To give you an idea how the tie flap thingies come out of the side seams:


I've been quite productive these past few days. I made some tiny baby jammies for the aforementioned baby shower. I just need to buy some more snaps to finish that project and post a pic. I've also almost completed a black dress for a funeral. :-( Hubs' sweet grandmother passed away a few days ago, so I'll be taking the boys up to Ohio for the memorial service in about a week. When I sing at funerals at my church, I usually wear a black skirt and dark gray sweater (long or short-sleeved), but I thought a black doubleknit dress would be nice to have in the closet and will be easy to pack. I already have this one, but it's a bit too va-va-foom for a funeral.