Making: Etta Dress

Am I finally less scared of dress making?

I suppose I’m not really that new to dress making any more, but I’ve felt like a stumbling newbie for so long I’d kind of just got used to it. Looking back I see that I started my endeavours in earnest back in May ‘22, but not that much in earnest as I made a grand total of five things in these past four years.

Basically it hasn’t come easy to me at all. As I mentioned in my last dressmaking themed post (linked below), this is partly because I seem to be scared of sewing garments for some reason, and partly because I haven’t been doing it often enough to build up any skills and therefore any confidence. At last though, I think the tide has turned!

I’m not sure how the idea came to me now, but at some point early in the New Year, I decided I wanted to make the Etta dress. Maybe I was just browsing the Merchant & Mills site, I’m not sure, but however the seed was sown, it definitely germinated. Before long I had a nice crisp pattern and some lovely Japanese cotton/linen blend¹ fabric sat on my craft table ready to go.

Normally I would avoid a wrap dress, the fear of the skirt flying open in the wind or the neckline gaping inappropriately mean that I discounted them as a realistic option years ago. So I’m not sure why this one appealed to me, but I’m glad to say that the neckline is reassuringly high, the skirts are soothingly long and the wrap is encouragingly overlapped and anchored when tied. I glad to say I feel quite secure and comfortable in it.

My experiences so far have led me to believe that whatever I want to make, just make it a size bigger than I think I will need. I dare say it will catch me out at some point, but so far it’s holding. I made this two sizes larger than my ‘normal’ dress size². The pattern sizing instructed me I needed one size larger, I banked on it being more like two and so it seemed to be.

There is actually nothing to report about the process of making this dress. I adopted the same ‘slow and steady’ attitude to the project that I took with the Liberty blouse and I think I was more relaxed this time too. Everything went much more smoothly and seemed to fall into place quite nicely. Sleeves were set in with no problems, even the gathering went it should. It was only as I was coming to the end, with just had the hand sewing to finish, I realised I’d actually quite enjoyed making this project.

Maybe, just maybe, I’ve turned a corner and gained a little more confidence?

S x

Securely wrapped up

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1. Also from Merchant & Mills called ‘Rural Brown’. No link I’m afraid, it already seems to be gone from their site.

2. A fluid and wide ranging concept at the best of times.