This year, we had a gorgeous end of Spring in the UK, with very warm temperatures. So in June I wanted to sew a cute little retro sundress.
The inspiration
Although this is a new dress, the inspiration isn't new. In fact, I sewed a very similar dress back in 2016: After sewing my wedding dress, I wanted to keep sewing strapless bodices, with boning. So I sewed a navy blue dress, with white polka dot. Although I absolutely loved it and it was a nice make, I had used plastic boning, and sadly they didn't really survive the test of time.
This year, after finding the road to my sewing machine back thanks to my Kim dress, I wanted a new challenge: Sew a strapless, boned bodice, super comfortable, and secure.
The pattern
For this dress, I have used one of my favourite sewing book: Gertie's ultimate dress book. I really love this book and Gertie's method. Like so many other now, she uses 'blocks' in her book, so you can mix and match at your leisure to create very unique garments (bodice X with sleeve Y and skirt W? No problem!).
For this dress, I've decided to use the sweetheart princess bodice with a classic A-line skirt. As usual with Gertie, she also walk you though vintage sewing techniques (such as sewing a concealed zipper rather than an invisible one), which I particularly enjoy.
My very own sundress
Contrary to what I did in 2016, this time, I used metal boning. And what a joy! I really enjoy this DIY aspect of sewing (cutting metal boning requires serious tools!), but of course, above all, I enjoy wearing it much more than plastic boning.
For this dress, I cut a blue and white cotton, and used a contrasting red ribbon as a strap. This added strap is more because I like the look of it, as the bodice holds up very well without it.
In term of comfort, nothing to report. But the more I see the photos, the more I realise the bodice is actually a tad large! My main concern at the moment while sewing garment is to make them too small (no idea where that's coming from). So I've had the bad habit to cut a bit more than what I needed... often ending with a dress a full size above what I needed. Looks like I don't trust my measurements!
But this dress is still super comfy and lovely to wear, so I'm still pretty pleased with the result!
