Belle of the ball

Pattern: Simplicity 2247
Size: 10
Fabric: Cotton and lace from Witney Sewing Centre

Some non-selfish sewing and a change from seeing my boring mug on here!

  My best friend, Bezzie Minx, attended a good friend's wedding recently but was struggling to find a nice, autumnal dress to wear. So I offered to make her a dress and she graciously accepted. We discussed what she might like in terms of styles and colours (maroon, v-neck, long sleeves) and I started looking for fabrics and patterns. I sent through options of patterns and we gradually narrowed it down to Simplicity 2247. As it's an Amazing Fit pattern, I knew from experience it would be great to make and easy to fit to my model.

Fabric was trickier and I scoured the internet for a nice maroon fabric, either plain or polka dot but to no avail. Eventually, I found myself in one of my usual haunts, Witney Sewing Centre, where I'd seen a beautiful corded lace that would be perfect for the sleeves. I was just about to walk out when I caught some cotton out of the corner of my eye: maroon with a black marbled effect. Perfect!! Hooray!

The dress went together easily and the pattern was a joy, as always with Amazing Fit. I usually do away with facings but on this occasion I thought I'd stick to the pattern as the neck facing helps create a tidy v-neck.

Conveniently, I managed to get most of the dress made just in time for Bezzie Minx to visit and so could do a try-on. There wasn't much to alter but it did mean we could tweak the length of the skirt and sleeves, and also make the v-neck a little lower to suit her tastes. I felt it was a personal victory to make these changes, particularly the neckline, as it meant freestyling, and creating a new piece for the facing to match. I would normally chicken out of such things but as it was for someone else it was a point of pride and I'm glad I was forced in to doing something outside of my comfort zone.

I'm really pleased with how it came out. I was a bit worried that my fabric was stiffer than recommended but it still hangs really well and in fact gives the skirt a bit more shape which is very cute. It was great having a model to fit the dress on as I usually don't have the luxury of such tweaking, and because of that I think it fits her beautifully.

You can see for yourselves how gorgeous she looks, and I feel very proud to have made something so special for her.