Finished Project: Another 'Georgia' Maxi Dress.

I hope you don't mind that I have a habit making the same dresses over and over. 

In 2011/2012 I was obsessed with full gathered skirt; 2013/2014 I'm in love with maxi dresses.

If I have to make a billion adjustments to a pattern to accommodate my small bust, erect back, hollow chest, swayback, forward shoulders, long torso, short legs, narrow underbust, long upper torso "unique" body, why not sew it to death.

With Georgia, I didn't encounter many fitting issues as I did with Anna (fitting posts here), so only one 'fitting post' was blogged... however, now that I've made my fourth Georgia, I'm picking up on things that are bugging me...

1) The bodice cups: I think this was discussed in the comments of one of my previous Georgia posts, or on Twitter; but the cups don't sit correctly over my boob/bra cup. It sits about 3cm above the underwire of my bra (refer to pic below). Even when I am bra-less, the cups don't 'cup' my boobs. 

Does anyone else have the same issue with the bodice cups?

There was a discussion on an old blog post, and another sewist said I may have a 'narrow underbust' and 'long upper torso' so simply lengthening the straps probably won't fix the issue, because it will then expose more skin up top, which I hate.

I will be lengthening the bodice (cups and back piece) on my next Georgia. Fingers crossed.

My finger is sitting just under my bra underwire. Cups are so not in the correct spot! 

2) The lower back: I had to "pinch" out some excess fabric in the lower back of this skirt. This adjustment was made last minute on my Georgia mini but not on my rayon maxi or Valentines Day mini.

I thought the problem was with my buns; but I think it could be due to my long torso extending into the area where my buns should be. I got validation from a lovely follower on Twitter that my buns are sufficient and anacondas want. Haha, Nicki Minaj, you kill me with that song.

Lengthening the bodice will "drop" the skirt 3cm lower and may solve all my issues, so I'll start with lengthening the bodice. 

How much fabric I "pinched" out of my lower back. 

Before and after.
Any thoughts on why this happens to me? It happens on RTW and all patterns that skim my back.

3) The straps: Might add some length back into them, and reassess their position at the back, particularly the left (my RHS) strap, did I put it in wrong spot??? WTHHHHH! 

I swear both straps are in the same position and when I hold up the dress, it looks fine; when I wear it, it looks odd. GAHHH. The photo below annoys me so much!!!! 

The strap on right (my LHS) is the shortened one.

There is something NQR with the strap on the left (my RHS).

Apart from the three issues above, I absolutely LOVE this version!!!!
I love it so much that I wore the dress to dinner with Ling on Saturday, then again on Sunday out to lunch with Libby (The Very Very Hungry Caterpillar).

I also took a nap in it and Georgia was very comfy to sleep in, just like my floral Anna.

Thanks Libby for taking pics... ignore the wrinkles on the back, that's just from sitting down for a 2 hour American food feast at Le Bon Ton; I couldn't be more happy with the fit. Best so far, I think.

The sweetheart-style neckline is very flattering, gives the appearance of a fuller bust. The dress as a whole makes me feel womanly cos it hugs in all the right places, and the fabric is just so pretty.

I kinda regret not putting in the side split; although it is walk-able, I tend to run late to everything and am power walking most of the time.

Front bodice.

Side view.

Inside/back bodice.

Sorry for selfies, still camera-less... but like that I can blog straight from my iphone. No need to hook camera up to laptop.

Project details -

Pattern: BHL 'Georgia' + 53cm!

Size: 2/6 bust, 6/10 waist, 2/6 hips

Fabric:  2.5m cotton voile

Notions: 16" invisible zipper, thread, cotton tape

Cost: The fabric was in my stash reserved for a Flora wearable muslin, bought it months ago. My guess is $25 for cotton voile and $5 for zipper. $30 maxi dress. Bargain, if you ask me.

Pattern Modification/Adjustments: 

• The usual adjustments I made for previous Georgia dresses:
• hollow chest adjustment
• small bust adjustment
• shortening the strap on my right shoulder
• wider straps (smaller SA)
• moving the position of the straps to sit more to the side of front bodice, just next to the outside of cup seams
• took a chunk out of my lower back skirt
• Added 53cm to skirt, for maxi length

Hours: I know for sure that cutting and construction of entire dress took 5hrs. The zipper, hemming and hand-sewing took another 2 hours or so, plus another hour for final adjustments on lower back. Lets say, 8 hours total.

Completed on: Thursday 2nd October 2014.

First worn: Saturday 5th October 2014, to Ling's (Six Inch Heel) birthday dinner.

Happy Birthday Ling!!

Ling and I have been friends for almost 4 years... she was the first person I met from Twitter.
We bonded quickly in real life over blogging and food, I'm a frequent guest at her family BBQs and her boys call me 'Aunty Nee'.

Ling's birthday dinner was at Teppanyaki Inn. It was delicious, best wagyu steak I have had, ever. Her boys made me laugh constantly, they are so smart and funny, well behaved too. Yep, am kinda clucky! I spent most of the night saying "awwwwwwww, he's sooo cute, awww!!" Was a wonderful night out. Thanks for the invite, Ling!!!!

Next up on my sewing table will be a dress for the 'GYFOMelbourne 2014 Charity Frocktails' hosted by Team Get Your Frock On. Their mission is to raise awareness and funds for Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.

The event is on Thursday 16th October 2014, so still plenty of time for you to get yourself a ticket (here).

I have a couple of ideas for my GYFO dress; maybe a houndstooth maxi (I hear you groaning, haha) or a floral strapless mini. I am being so predictable and boring, but I can't move on till I have nailed the pattern (typical Virgo - perfectionist, fussy, borderline OCD).

I need to ace the bodice cups; does anyone else have the same issue as me with the bodice cups?
How did you fix it?

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Finished Project: The 'Georgia' Maxi Dress.

My boyfriend and I were invited to be guests and witnesses at my friend's wedding ceremony. I felt so grown up, I've never been a witness before!! It was a garden wedding, so of course that called for a beautiful floral dress... who am I kidding, I would have made a floral dress even if the wedding was in the snow! 

The bride looked stunning, the ceremony was a beautiful, and the weather was just perfect. Thank you Melbourne! It was an afternoon ceremony, then photos all around the city, followed by an intimate dinner.

The dress I made for the occasion is the By Hand London Georgia, but with a maxi skirt and a thigh high split. Originally I planned on making the Anna, but after seeing how gorgeous the sweetheart neckline is on the Georgia, I changed my mind.

I added 53cm length to each skirt piece to make the dress maxi length, 50cm would have suffice, but ya never know!! Ended up taking up hem about 4cm I think.

It was pretty risky to make Georgia using rayon when the BHL recommend "medium weight fabrics with a little bit of stretch - cotton sateen, twill, drill, poplin, upholstery cottons, denim, courduroy, silk noil, brocade and jacqard" but I went ahead and cut out my rayon any way. YOLO!

I was especially scared because I made one change to the skirt - instead of using the pattern piece from my Vday Georgia, I retraced the skirt centre back piece and didn't do the sway back adjustment!! You may remember that my muslin/toile fit pretty well around the back, but it had a few wrinkles which I thought would be gone if I did a swayback adjustment. So I did the swayback adjustment on the Valentines Day Georgia, but that ended up making the back of the dress poof out. I thought if the muslin/toile fit well without the swayback adjustment then I may as well not do the adjustment. 

It was very nerve-racking cutting into my rayon. I only had 3m of the rayon and no backup plan. If the skirt didn't work out then I would be a dress-less wedding guest. 

I started cutting into the rayon on Sunday afternoon. I was not in the best of moods - I was grouchy and hangry and wasn't paying attention. I turned up the iron too high and melted my 'trace and toile' onto my iron board cover and iron, so I had to trace my pattern again.  I angrily pinned my maxi skirt pieces on to the rayon then went out to get lunch, watched some TV, then after I calmed down I started cutting.

The skirt came together without drama, didn't have issues with joining the curved seams like last time - who would have thought working with rayon would be easier than cotton. Go figure! 

The skirt skims over my lower back and bum perfectly. The weight and drape on the rayon is dreamy! So happy. 

The bodice only needed a couple of minor tweaks.

On this version, I took out 3cm wedges on the front centre bodice, total of 6cm removed from the neckline and front bodice (info on adjustment here). 

This fixed the neck line gaping and also took away the extra ease under the arm. 

When I did the final fitting I realised that the straps had stretched! Bugger!!!! It was soooo annoying, the straps had stretched a whole inch (2.5cm). I didn't have time/didn't want to unpick the lining and bodice so I folded/shortened the straps and hand stitched them down on the back bodice. 

There was a lot of hand stitching involved with this dress - lining, split, hem. Worth the effort though.

The dress was perfect length, didn't trip once during out 3 hour photography journey around the city and the thigh high split was just high enough to show some leg but not flash any naughty bits ;)

The sandals I wore with the dress look like they were made from the same fabric as my dress, so cool!

I feel so honoured to be part of my girlfriend's special day. I wish her and hubby all the happiness in the world. I wish I could share with you more photos from the wedding, my friend looked incredible, gorgeous, beautiful, hottest bride I have seen; but the photographer has all the professional pics. I got BF to take these on his phone when we weren't required for photos with the bride and groom. Thanks for AirDropping these to me baby!

Project details -

Pattern: By Hand London 'Georgia'

Size: Bust 2/6, Waist 6/10, Hips 2/6

Fabric: 3m rayon (140cm width) but I have about 1m leftover (originally bought fabric for Anna)

Notions: 16" invisible zipper

Cost: fabric $30, zipper $5

Pattern Modification/Adjustments: 

• lengthened skirt pattern pieces by 53cm
• thigh high split
• small bust adjustment
• took out 2 x 3cm wedge in front centre bodice piece

Hours: approx 15 hours

Completed on: Saturday 22nd February 2014

First worn: Sunday 23rd February 2014 to my friend's wedding ceremony

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