Finished Project: 'Sister High Tea Dresses'.

As promised, here is my post to detail the construction of the skirts for the dresses and photos of the inside.

Both dresses were made using the bodice of the McCalls 5845 pattern, with minor adjustments to the front and back. I made the skirts by following tutorials from Gertie's New Better Blog for Better Sewing and Curves, Patterns, and Pins. Thank you ladies for posting such detailed tutorials :D

Dress 1: Big Sister's Dress w/ Full Circle Skirt.

M5845 bodice BACK, 2 front box pleats on skirt, bias binding to finish hem.

INSIDE: zig zig stitch on hem, lace trim. Bias binding on the hem of dress fabric.

2cm back seam allowance.

Big sister's dress, review.

Pattern: McCall's 5845 bodice, full circle skirt cut using Curves, Patterns, and Pins tutorial

Size: Size 6 bodice, graded to size 8 waist.

Skirt info: 

• Skirt lining cut 3cm shorter
• Length 45cm (46.5cm with SA, no hem)
• I followed the formula, but kept ending up with extra fabric, I got rid of it by adding box pleats. Reana from Curves, Patterns, and Pins gave me a link for a circle skirt calculator which I will use next time to check my calculations. Reana didn't have any issues with her skirt, so it is probably my math that is the issue!! :)

Fabric: 1.7m cotton sateen, 1.7m acetate lining (used the "cheap" lining because I didn't want to spend $20 on sunsilky), 5m lace.

Notions: Invisible zipper (black) 16", Gutermann thread (000)

Modifications: 

• Lowered neck by 5cm
• Raised back by 5cm
• Skirt cut using Curves, Patterns, and Pins tutorial
• 2cm back seam allowance
• Invisible zipper instead of dress zipper
• Used bias binding on the hem - it is so hard to hem a circle skirt! Thank you heaps to the girl at Clegs who suggested that to me.
• Darts on the inside not outside

Time: a few hours over 3 days to finish the dress... But then I unpicked the hem on the lining and the dress and started over. Took another 2 hours. Total hours: 9 or so.
Total cost: $25 (fabric, lining, lace and zip), pattern and thread from my stash.

Big sister's dress: I love the effect of bias binding on the hem - that solid black finish looks great to me.
Modifications to the back allows me to wear a bra.
Modification to the front - it's sits just below my collar bone which is very comfortable. .

Dress 2: Little Sister's Dress w/ Full Gathered Skirt.

M5845 bodice. Gathered skirt, skirt hem circumference 2.4m.

INSIDE: "Pistachio" acetate lining. Excuse my dodgy ironing skills, I'm still learning!

Zig zig stitch finish on hem, lace trim.

Little sister's dress, review.

Pattern: McCall's 5845 bodice, full gathered skirt cut using Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing tutorial

Size: Size 8

Skirt info: 

• Length 50cm (54.5cm with 3cm hem and 1.5cm SA)
• Skirt width 2.4m
• I cut the 2 pieces on the centre fold (60cm wide, from centre to selvege, length 54.5cm). I cut 1 of the pieces in half to make the back of the skirt (needs a back seam)
• Skirt lining cut 3cm shorter

Fabric: 1.7m cotton sateen, 1.7m acetate lining (used the "cheap" lining because I didn't want to spend $20 on sunsilky).

Notions: Invisible zipper (peacock) 16", 3m lace, Gutermann thread (189, 282) 

Modifications: 

• Lowered neck by 5cm
• Raised back by 6cm (my sister's dress needed 1 more cm).
• Full gathered skirt cut using Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing tutorial
• Invisible zipper instead of dress zipper
• Darts on the inside not outside
• No mod to back SA

Time: a few hours over a 4 days to finish the dress.
Total cost: $15 (lining, zip, thread), pattern from my stash. The fabric was given to me from my sewing friend Katherine- thanks Kat! We are planning to go to the ballet later in the year. Look out for the dresses we will be making for that outing!

Little sister's dress: I love the colour of this fabric and the lining looks yummy.
The full gathered skirt and modest length is very flattering on my sister. She looks very lady-like.
My sister loves the everything about the dress. 

Today was my first day at my new office. The building is gorgeous! Now that I am no longer next Clegs and Lincraft, I'm not sure if I will be sewing at home as often as I was. I guess I can use this time to move on to a new pattern. I have sewn the McCall's 5845 bodice six times now. I think it's time to get out of my comfort zone.

The kitchen is gorgeous!
I don't know any other words to use to describe this kitchen, it's not often that I compliment kitchens.
The photo in the bottom right corner is our "live wall"... the plants on the wall are alive!

Looking at my pattern collection, I am interested in making the V2960, the bodice is nice, and the V8511 has a nice silhouette. Whether or not it will look good on me is a different story! I don't have a stick body like the drawing, lol. I'd love to make dresses using the vintage patterns from Etsy, but my sewing teacher says I got the wrong size, and it might be hard to make adjustments. Zz. Well, in the meantime, I'll leave you with more photos from Saturday... now that I no longer have Facebook, all my favorite photos will get shared here :P Just kidding, I'm only sharing these pics because it features the handmade dresses in action! I like to see my dresses being worn, it makes me happy and motivated. Don't worry, I won't bore you with boring Instagrams of random letterboxes and tree branches - not that I take photos of those objects.

Jumping around at Parliament House, pouring a glorious blooming tea,
deciding which finger sandwich to get into first, showing off our full skirts.

Silly poses, selfies in the powder room,
Drying off by the Yarra after a 40 minute City Circle tram ride, more silly poses.

Check out the matching belts, nail polish, doctors bags and Infinity Tiffany & Co ring and bracelet!

Happy 18th Birthday little one.