Sunday, November 9, 2008

Butterick 5243

Good Morning,

I hope you had a fantabulous weekend! I am finally posting my review for Butterick 5243. I wanted to wait until after our anniversary dinner to post in case DH decided to read my blog.

Pattern Description: Dresses A, B have loose-fitting bodice with gathers, yoke, midriff with gathered overlay, raglan-type sleeves and flared skirt. A: short sleeves. B: long sleeves with band. A, B: mid-knee length.

Pattern Sizing:BB(8-10-12-14), FF(16-18-20-22)I cut a 16 and made modifications.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. Overall I was pleased with how the dress turned out.

Were the instructions easy to follow? Very. You can glance at them and just go from there.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?The dress went together in no time at all. Cutting took less than an hour so you could easily make these dress in under 3 hours or so. It took me a bit longer since I jumped around to different projects. I will say that the long sleeves are awfully big. Huge in fact. You could have arms as big as your thighs and they would have room to spare in these things. When I was cutting I noticed they seemed a bit big but I let it go since they were going to be gathered at the end and secured with the band. They still ended up HUGE even after I took them in a bit. I also feel like the band should be stabilized with interfacing particulary if you use a slinky knit fabric. I am a huge fan of gathering at the waist since it helps to hide the bulge. I can't figure out if the pattern sizing was off or I had lost a few pounds from cutting to finish. At any rate the dress was a little more loose than I would have liked but I can remedy that in my next version.


Fabric Used: A fabulous zig zag jersey knit from fabric.com. I wanted a BUSY pattern to make a statement with and it certainly did the job. The fabric did border on making me look really wide with the lines but I am secure enough that I still loved it. I was excited when I was able to match up the lines in the bodice, waist, and skirt so it seemed to wrap around me.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: I shortened the skirt. I also didn't have the bodice cross over as much in the front as I wanted to break up the pattern a bit by wearing a black cami underneath.


Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?I do plan to sew this again in view A using a red jersey knit. I honestly will probably only wear this version one other time on our cruise since I made it for a special occassion.



Conclusion: A really nice pattern that was an easy sew. I recommend it with modifications because of the huge sleeves.



Here are a few pics of us enjoying dinner at the Melting Pot:


DH about to tear into the cheese fondue



Taking a break during the main entree



The restaurant was getting face lift so we didn't take a pic outside but here's the next best thing








1 comment:

Opal said...

Great dress! I have this pattern in my stash and I think it is a great pattern. Love the gathering at the waist helps to conceal those problem areas. This is definitely a must sew....