I did it! I made a Nougat dress! There were times I was seriously doubting whether I would ever start, let alone, finish the Nougat dress but in the end it all came together well.
My main struggle was finding appropriate fabric that fulfilled all the criteria for making this dress work: it had to be drapey, non-wrinkly, cheap enough to buy several metres of, and suitable for the alternating windmill-like pattern of the dress.
It wasn't easy but I eventually settled on a cheap and cheerful crepe-backed satin in a shiny red. This fabric allowed me to use both the shiny front and the matte back to create the effect of the patch-worked pieces of the dress. Despite my initial fear of the fabric looking, well, cheap, I do think it looks rather Christmas-y, as indeed intended.
I wore the dress both to our staff party and on Christmas Eve in work and felt appropriately festive.
Now onto a little review of this dress pattern.
REVIEW: Stepalica Patterns
PATTERN TESTED:
Nougat Dress, PDF Pattern, £ 7.46
ABOUT THE PATTERN:
The pattern is only available in a PDF format. The instructions and patterns come in separate - and very easy to print and read - files. The pattern includes sizes 32-44. The patterns have no seam allowances.
MY NOTES:
PDF PATTERN IS EASY TO USE - Despite the million of pieces this dress seams to be made of, the PDF pattern is fairly easy to assemble and print. The pattern is laid out in such a way that you only need to print the pieces actually required for your version of the dress, without having to print unnecessary pages.
THE INSTRUCTIONS ARE REALLY GOOD - The instructions and general design and layout of the instruction pages is really good and super easy to read and follow. Together with the sew-along pages on Ana's blog, it's easy to put this dress together. Well, sort of :)
NO SEAM ALLOWANCES - As always I'm a big fan of no seam allowances! Especially in difficult patterns, such as this one. It is just so much easier to customize and alter for fit.
DIFFICULT? - Well, yes, this pattern in view A or, even B, is certainly a difficult pattern that requires a patient and experienced sewist. If you like a challenge, this is for you.
I recommend that if you want to make a really nice version of this dress, make yourself version C first. Then transfer these changes to the other versions. This way you have little accomplishments along the way and don't need to make toile after toile. In fact, since I did not make an easier version first, I consider my dress to be a sort of fancy toile. The finish inside is not great and I made some mistakes but had I spent more time on the dress I would have been frustrated. If I make another version it will take me less time and I can spend that time on a nicer finish and a full lining.
FRONT DIAMOND & FULL BUST - As you can see from my dress, I considerably changed the front bodice of this dress. The reason for that was that A) my fabric was not drapey and light enough to be gathered into the diamond shape, and B) I just really didn't think this design would look good on a full bust. The last thing I want is a full and gathered design, combined with a high neckline, right on top of my chest. Therefore I decided to keep the swirly design, but to leave out the diamond and to lower the neckline. I think this look is more flattering on a bigger bust. What do you think?
FABRIC - I found it very difficult to source appropriate fabric for this dress. Only a very small fraction of the fabric I found in my local shops would have been suitable to make this dress. Most of the ones that were, were only in my price range in their 100% polyester version, which is not often something I either like to sew with or wear. This makes the pattern difficult to use, especially for those with limited access to fabric shops.
FINISHED GARMENT MEASUREMENTS - Woohoo! There are finished garment measurements with this pattern. You know how excited they make me!
In general, the pattern gives you the feeling that the person making it knows what they are on about and make alterations to the pattern easy. Yes, despite the many pieces, it was fairly simple to make a full bust adjustment. Trust me!
CONCLUSION:
All in all, I really enjoyed this little experiment. The dress was a big hit at the Christmas Party and I learned that I can make a fine dress even without all the perfectionism I often like to insert into my projects. This dress came together in late-night bursts of energy and crazed gung-ho sewing - but it worked.
I hope Ana will realease more interesting and challenging patterns in her line and look forward to trying more!
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JOIN IN!
I have stopped using the inlinkz link-up tool for this challenge as I thought it was awkward and your reviews difficult to find in the muddle on my blog.
Instead I've opened a Pinterest board that you are happy to join with any of your reviews or projects related to this challenge of whatever month you please. I've added pins of some of you already who contributed links to earlier months (Hope that's ok with you!).
Let me know how you get on with your Nougats! Don't be afraid! It is do-able :) ...ehhh.. sew-able..