Butterick 5814 – my little wiggle (and a tad smug)

AKA the Ladybird dress – thanks Bimble & Pimble! That’s all I think about when I see this! Totes!

So Butterick 5814 is finished – well nearly, I confess I still need to slip-stitch the hem up but I figured I could get away with it in the photos!

Butterick 5814 – my little wiggle accessorised with a smirk. Yes, I love those shoes too…

I had to do some modifications post bodice construction. I thought it was going to fit and then once I sewed it all up and put in the zip it was just a little tooooo revealing in the bosom department. It was kinda sliding across, very low-cut and revealing – I am not your classic wiggle figure. More of a slight shimmy. I’m sure if I was a full-figured lass, or more of a wiggle, it would not have been an issue.

Butterick 5814 – bodice interior. Whoops camera strap. That’s my post construction ‘hack tack’ on the righthand side.

I made a 6 in the bodice and I still had to heaved the surplice bits over a good inch on either side, tapering out to zero at the waist. This pulled the bodice sides (which cross over) across more tightly and I feel more confident in it with this rather dodgy bodification. Hey, it works and from the outside you can’t really tell. Even when I am really drunk I don’t take my clothes off in public 😉 so the interior is not such an issue LOL.

Butterick 5814 – bodice exterior

It’s not the best way to modify the dress, post construction (listen… can you hear Gertie screaming “make a muslin first you silly woman” yes yes Gertie but I am a base jumper in the sewing world – take a leap of faith and see what happens) however you can’t tell from the outside and I think it did less damage that a truckload of picking.

I would try making this again, modifying the little bodice piece that the tucked side attaches to and pulling a substantial piece of the bodice that crosses under into the side seam on an angle. I would make it in black – it would be a smokin’ LBD.

Butterick 5814 – my little wiggle. This is how I look after a few drinks…

If you are a curvy girl I think this could really work on you.

It was fun to make. I found it came together beautifully and the interior of the bodice looked amazing (until my hack post-construction tack). I got a bit stuck on the boning as I had never tackled that stuff before. I ended up taking the boning completely out of its cover, edge stitching it down and then re-inserting the boning. Worked perfectly.

Butterick 5814 – back – whoops bra strap. Sorry should have straightened myself up for that photo.

I was really disappointed with how the zip was inserted. It looks OK on the outside but the inside is not very neat. I felt after the immaculate bodice construction the zip insertion was a little ‘blah’ and I would do it my own way next time. I kept re-reading the instructions thinking “that can’t be it” but ended up using them anyway (in a leap of faith) but was not pleased with the result. Compared to the Cambie finish, it’s just not as tidy, But then the Cambie is perfect :-).

I made a 6 up top and an 8 for the skirt, I think I could have made a 6 all the way through.

Butterick 5814 – skirt puff!

The sleeves are tight and come right under your armpits.

Butterick vintage 2739 – there is one of those flounce things!

Not good for a hot sweaty day. The flappy thing is necessary, without it you will end up with a fabulous but bouffy bunch of pleats curving across your stomach, excellent if you like the bloated or pregnant look, so the flappy bits are essential. I started out thinking they were odd but I really like them now! Then I saw this vintage pattern on eBay today. Vintage waist flappy things!

It’s also a tricky dress to wear a bra with. You might be able to go without with all the boning but I need one to give me some shape. Possibly sewing one into the dress might work…

I love how the skirt is underlined, I have never underlined anything before so it was a great learning experience. Now I better understand why you might underling something, how underlining can change the shape of a garment, how the tack the pieces together and tack the darts etc before actually sewing. It’s time consuming but worth the extra work.

My photos aren’t great, it was just too windy to do beach photos today sorry – and I would look a little freaky on the beach in this.

I had planned to wear is to ‘high tea’ event but chickened out. I’m a bit sorry I did as this would look fabulous with a black hat! My Twitter friends helped out and we ended up picking the beloved Cambie. I got busy in the morning and made two Lisette bows (great idea from Sewmelove and HouseofPinheiro via Twitter this week) and trimmed my hat and handbag to match (thank goodness for keeping scraps). I was nominated for ‘best dressed lady’ along with two of my friends. Three of us were nominated in the top ten from a field of 150 ladies. No I didn’t win but I bet no-one else had made their own dress 😉 A short black lace dress won the day.

High Tea Sewaholic Cambie

High Tea Sewaholic Cambie – accessories

More blogs posts to come this week – blogger awards, Tasmania trip finds and more…

And if you are wondering about the gorgeous plant in the background of the Gertie dress pictures it’s called a Bottlebrush – yes not only do us Aussie have creatures with built-in pockets (marsupials!) we also have kitchen utensils in the garden. LOL.

Talk soon!

Pattern: Butterick 5814 purchased from Sew Squirrel
Fabric: shell: taffeta from Spotlight’s bargain table $10 a metre. Lining: black bemsilk