Tessuti Lois Dress: Very Wearable Muslin

Tessuti released some great patterns in 2017! I was most facinated by the Lois Dress. Lois has a low cut front, is midi length and skims over the stomach and hips. All beautiful features, but ones I would normally avoid for myself. This is a dress I would walk straight past when shopping thinking it wouldn't suit my shape. It turns out I'm more adventourous when sewing my clothes compared to buying, and I'm really glad about that! 

For my first attempt I used a cotton fabric, white with black squares, from my stash. I cut a size 10 with size 8 shoulders. I followed the intructions with some very minor deviations: I stay-stiched rather than using tear away vilene around the neckline and waist, and I cut and sewed the darts in one piece (as ususal) rather than as the pattern / instructions detail. I dont think either vilene or the alternative darts are nessecary.  

                

The dress comes together reasonably quickly and the instructions a great! Lots of detailed photos to take you through each step. The most fiddlly aspect was joing the top to the bodice at the centre front. It's tricky (but doable) to get a nice point at the neckline, and worth taking the time to get it right. I love the 3-step process for attaching the bias binding, which creates a really firm and neat neckline. I was worried about the low-cut neckline, but the plunge stops just above my bra bridge. Perfect!

As usual for Tessuti patterns, the number of pages to be printed is execcesive!  The pattern could definitely be repositioned to spread across fewer pages. It would also be useful if a legend was included stating which pages need to be printed for what pattern pieces. This way I could have avoided printing pages for the vilene shields and the bias binidng piece - niether of which are nessecary, IMO. This would also be useful if you need to reprint a pattern piece gone missing, or go up a size only in the bodice pieces, for example. 

Overall, I really like this pattern and am pleasantly suprised at just how flattering it is on me, and on women of varying shapes and sizes across the sewing blogger community. This dress was intended to be a muslin, but I've already worn it a heap! I've also sewn another version in a darker viscose. Looking forward to seeing what patterns Tessuti release in 2018.