Sunday, June 9, 2013

Easter Dress 2013 (Butterick 6582)

When I was a little girl, Easter always meant a new dress! I still get the itch, when Easter comes around, to find that perfect spring-like dress for the occasion. This year, having recently acquired quite a pattern stash, and feeling more confident about using them, I decided I'd give making my own dress a shot. I thumbed through my Retro Repro patterns, and settled on Retro Butterick 6582.


I would, of course, be choosing the full-skirted version. ;-) One day maybe I'll feel bold enough to make a wiggle dress.

I chose this lovely pink and peach floral cotton, I thought it was very happy and it reminded me of spring! My husband said he thought it looked a little granny-ish, haha, but I figured that meant it would fit my old fashioned style dress.



 The pattern wasn't too difficult, I found the instructions to be pretty straight forward. As I always do whenever possible, I added a pocket. I also took the opportunity to practice my invisible zipper insertion skills, as I was getting ready to work on the wedding dress for my friend and needed as much practice as possible. It went in without issue, so I was pleased! This was how it looked before I joined the skirt and the bodice:


I decided I wanted a sash to go with it, so I used the sash from Retro Butterick 5032. And here I am ready to head off to the Easter Vigil!


I also considered wearing it with a pink sweater I had, and I've since worn it this way, but decided to go with the sash for Easter.







 I found a darling little vintage hat while browsing around after restocking my booth at Austin Gift Company. Only $8! I decided it was a little too pink all over, so I decided to add some of the fabric I used for the sash to tie it all together. Here are some close ups of the hat, and the hair.





It was a lovely Easter vigil, and I got several compliments on my ensemble from strangers, which is always fun. ;-) Not too shabby for my second retro dress from a pattern! Each one completed has given me more confidence, and makes me look forward to tackling the next one.



5 comments:

Noelle said...

It's beautiful! I recently purchased that pattern and I've yet to see any finished versions of it, so I'm glad I checked We Sew Retro today!

How was it to sew? Last week I made a retro Butterick dress and it came together so easily.

Cherie said...

Lovely! I like the sash...it cinches in the waist a bit. It is a good alternative to making a belt.

Stephanie said...

Noelle, it was pretty easy to sew! The only tricky part (for me) was the facing around the neckline, I had to study the pictures for a while to figure it out, I just kept getting turned around in my head. But aside from that, it was fairly simple! :-) Good luck with yours, I'd love to see pics when you get around to it! If you want to see some other finished versions, check out Pattern Review, I'm pretty sure there are a few on there.

Thanks Cherie!

sandie.power said...

hi, im so glad to find this. i am trying to sew this dress but im stuck. its the first dress iv attempted and i am a complete novice except for curtains and cushion covers. im not daunted to attempt a rather imtermediate pattern because i stick rigidly to pattern, but what im stuck on and what im asking for a little advice from some one who has made this dress is the grainline on the skirt. The front skirt panel doesnt have a grainline illustrated, and the two back panels have a horizontal grainline when the bodice parts have a vertical grainline. the problem is my fabric. its a floral with a very clear grainline in the form of slightly raised lines in the fabric weave, a bit like linen. iv been stuck for a week now. im scared to go ahead because i dont have enough fabric to re-cut the skirt if i get it wrong :-(

Stephanie said...

Hey Sandie! You are braver than I am, lol, it took me a while to work up to using patterns like this. Good for you!

I'm certainly no expert, but my gut feeling would be that as long as you aren't cutting on the bias (diagonally) where the stretch of the fabric will make it hang differently, whether your grainline is horizontal or vertical won't make that much of a difference, so go with what you would feel most comfortable with. :-)

I know it can be scary to cut into that fabric, but I don't think in this situation you can do much harm either way. Good luck!