The Massively Maxi Dress

I actually have a very soft spot for maxi dresses. They make me feel tall and elegant, and a wide skirt looks awesome when you're walking down the stairs. So when Kollabora sent me a package full of sweet sewing goodies (thanks!) I was excited to find Simplicity 1801 in it!

Look! Maxi length!

I made a quick bodice muslin and barely had to make any changes, except adding about three centimeters to the neckline (and it's still VERY low...), so I got cracking on my final version. Some of you might remember the little teaser I posted earlier, a close-up of some embroidery:

I had decided on a navy blue cotton batiste for the dress, but felt like it could use a little ectra something, so I embroidered the midriff section in colourful running stitches. I love the effect, but it took FOREVER. I had planned to do this around the hem or neckline as well, but quickly abandoned that idea!

So... Without any further ado, here's my first handmade maxi dress:

 I realise you can't really see that much in this shot, but it was getting late and I knew I wouldn't have any other chances for photographing this any time soon (I'm currently working from 9 to 5 at a post office and seriously wondering how you guys with 'normal' jobs ever get ANYTHING done!)

This dress is seriously comfortable. I usually wear it with a top underneath because of the low neckline and all the resulting boobage, but I went without it for the pictures. The cotton batiste is awesome for this style: fine enough to look pretty and floaty, but still opaque without a lining.

The bodice has some nice gathering going on, but posting a picture of that would attract way too many creeps to ths blog, so here's my serious modelling face.

And here's the same face, fed up with my boyfriend taking loads of close-up pictures. I'm still not entirely comfortable getting my picture taken and posing in public, so making funny faces is the way I deal with this... Sadly it renders about 90 % of the pictures taken for this blog hilarious, but useless.

Here you can see how the embroidery works with the midriff. I like the cut of this dress, the waist is a bit higher than I'd usually wear but it's still low enough to avoid getting questions about a possible pregnancy.

Bonus: if you sneak around like you were doing something bad, it looks like you're wearing harem pants.

In conclusion: love the dress, not sure if I'd make it again, I'd rather try a different maxi dress pattern first. The Saltspring is hanging around here, waiting to be cut out!