Open source sewing: The Mila Dress

For my next project I have chosen an independent pattern from Mila Fashion on the Burda website.  This is the first time I have downloaded a pattern from the website, printed and assembled it.  I was pleasantly surprised how easy this exercise was; something I would definitely do again.

It is meant to be mid summer, despite that I am sitting here writing this with a blanket wrapped around my legs and a sweatshirt on.  So in preparation for the return of those long summer days I'm going fabric shopping tomorrow, specifically looking for a fun summer cotton.  I'm not sure yet whether I'll go for a contrast in colours (as per the pattern images) or a variation of the same tone - it will come to me when I get to the fabric shop I am sure.

I've already decided that I won't be putting the pockets into the side of the dress - I think this makes my hips look bigger than they need to.  I quite like the hook'n'eye detail down the front of the dress but instead of sewing each individually I'm going to look for a strip of pre-sewn hooks and eyes ... I know this might be slightly cheating but I'm okay with that.  As with all slim fitting dresses I will need to adjust the pattern to allow for my hips, which usually works just fine when I make that adjustment directly to the pattern before cutting.

I think for this dress I won't make a muslin, but I'll allow for a rather large seam allowance and baste the dress together for a fitting before I machine sew it.  This way I can make any fitting adjustments directly onto the dress without too much hassle, and hopefully save a bit of time. 

I always want to wear the garment before I've even cut it out!  My aim for 2013 is to take a bit more time with my projects to improve my fitting skills, which will hopefully give an overall more professional finish to my garments.  Here goes .....