Sewing my Holiday Dress 2018 (Butterick 6453)
Happy holidays everyone! I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far. The year 2018 hasn't been the best for me, but I have learnt a lot and grown a lot personally and creatively. I can't wait to usher in 2019! Of course, there will be a post talking about how I did with #2018MakeNine (uh, news flash, I didn't make all of them of course) and my plans for 2019.
HOLIDAY GARMENT TRADITION
Before I start getting teary reflecting on 2018 and dreaming about 2019, here's my latest make - my holiday dress for 2018! Last year, I made a self-drafted pencil skirt using a super kitschy Christmas Kitty fabric. This year, I decided to be a little bit more "proper" and picked this red poinsettia print set against a black background.
I wasn't sure if I was going to make a dress for this Christmas at first, and by the time I decided that I do want to make something with this fabric, it was already almost the middle of December. So, I decided to pick a simple dress that would be easy to make.
BUTTERICK 6453
The Butterick 6453 by Gretchen Hirsch (with McCall Pattern Company) is something that has been sitting in my stash for the longest time. I'm pretty late to the game because the original sew-along on Gertie's blog occurred wayyyy back in March 2017. But yeah, sewing the B6453 dress now is better than never!
This is probably the easiest thing I have made this year. I made a muslin for the bodice (*gasp*!) and only had to slice off the sides to fit my bust and my waist.
SEWING NOTES
Here are the all the changes I made when sewing my B6453 dress:
- Slices off sides of bodice to fit my bust and waist
- Shortened the length of the bodice
- Shortened length of skirt
- Used invisible zipper instead of regular zipper (only because I had an invisible zipper in the right colour sitting in my sewing box and I really didn't want to run out to get a new zipper)
- Shortened the straps by around an inch - in hindsight, I should have followed by guts and shortened it even more. I wear the dress with the straps adjusted to the shortest length!
- Used bias tape for the seams of the facing - I wanted to be a little fancy! Also, I had some red bias tape left from making my cheongsam and I just wanted to finish it... heh
I love how it has turned out and it's so satisfying to see the "Gwenstella Made" label on the facing as well!
By the time you read this, it would be less than a week until 2019. If I don't get to write anything here before then, here's wishing you a magical start to 2019. Thank you for being part of my creative journey in 2018. I have enjoyed writing every single post and reading all the comments that you wrote. I hope you'll continue to hang around in 2019.
To new beginnings! x G
