An Emery & A Date

There are so many incredible versions of Christine Haynes Emery Dress floating around the interwebs! Obviously I was inspired by them all and snapped up a pattern from Indie Stitches before they ran out of stock again. I knew the lovely Caitlan from Indie Stitches had been working on her version and we were planning a get together so we decided to have an Emery date! I'd also been working on convincing Caitlan to start her own blog for some time and she finally let up and Emery is the star of her very first blog post. Go check out Caitlan's BEAUTIFUL sleeveless version.

 

So, the dress. I traced a size 6 bust-8 waist and hips at a social sewing day where I was much more social than I was sewing. I knew that if I had any fitting issues it may be in part due to the poor tracing.

With the removable bow belt. 

I used a cotton form Darn Cheap, it's a little dark for my skin tone but I went with it anyway. I used a contrasting fabric for the lining. Note, if your not lining your dress or your using a contrasting fabric than you will only need 2m (maybe less) for Version 1. I used the contrast fabric for a bow and sleeve cuffs. I tried the bow that came with the pattern and it was super cute but I wasn't sure that it was me. So after some instagram advice I opted for a removable bow belt. I wear the dress without the belt most often

The Emery dress instructions are so incredibly detailed! My dress came together so neatly and quickly following Christine's fabulous instructions. I really felt well supported by them, not once did I feel the need to deviate to a preferred technique or check another resource. However I did machine stitch the hem because life's just to short for hand sewing imo.

I love the way the dress turned out but I do have some fitting issues. Again, who knows whether its the way I traced the pieces or not? Regardless, next time I need to take some fabric out the center top of the shoulders as the neckline isn't sitting flat. I thought about raising the waistline half an inch as its a little low on me but once I adjust the shoulders this shouldn't be an issue. I find the sleeves a little restricting but I'm not sure whether I need to increase the arm hole or increase the sleeve piece or both. I've already cut out my next version and it will be sleeveless.

So, back to the Emery date. I'm shattered that Caitlan and I didn't get a photo together (fools!). But here's one of her in her Emery. We had a nice long long chat, visited Clegs and Tessuti, and had lunch. It was so lovely meeting up with someone in real life after becoming such great cyber buddies. I can't wait to see what Caitlan sews up next!

(source)

*Talking Caitlan and her blog up is not part of my sponsorship with Indie Stitches. I genuinely think Caitlan is awesome therefore her blog should be on our blog roll and radar.*