Primavera dress or Yes, Spring is coming at last!

I just finished my first dress for the Colette Spring/Summer Palette Challenge! Here it is:

In case you're wondering, No, I don't sew insanely fast and finished an entire dress in two days. First, I don't have enough time to sew all day long, and second, I learned the hard way that when I rush a project, it always ends up with mistakes.

So I have to confess, I cheated. I started this dress a week before the actual challenge. And I have been sewing slowly but surely everyday: one hour for sewing the corset together, one hout to put the skirt together, one hour here, two hours there...

The pattern is Vogue Designer 1174 by Cynthia Steffe. I kept only the top as I wanted to incorporate a full skirt I adapted from a vintage pattern. The construction is pretty easy to follow. The most difficult thing was to deal with the pipping inserting, which was new for me. But it turned out ok.

Oh, and sizing! This pattern has the weirdest sizing I have ever seen. I read the reviews from PatternReview at first hand and everybody adviced to cut at least one size smaller than what the measures said. I did and when I tried my muslin, it was at least 6 cm too wide. I went from size 10 (the one which corresponds to my measurements according to the envelopp) to the smallest size for the dress, 4! Isn't that crazy??? A difference of 3 sizes! The good thing is that I didn't have to make any fittings for size 4, it fitted perfectly.

I am very happy about the details: the pipping is nicely put and even matches at the zipper closing. I also used white lace tape to hem the skirt. Hemmed by hand should I mention: 4 meters by hand is quite long to sew!

I am planning to wear this dress for a wedding I will attend this summer. Actually, I will attend four weddings and I am planning four different dresses. I just chose four dresses out of my to-do list and I hope to wear them also on a daily basis during the summer (ok, this one I might not be able to wear as much as the others, but I wil try).

Have a nice week end and I hope to see some Challenge projects soon on your blogs!