Sew Cheap November Free Pattern Review: Ludivine Robe

This month I struggled to get motivated to make up my Sew Cheap Make and Pattern Review. I finally decided on the Republique Du Chiffon Ludivine Robe. I downloaded the pattern last weekend and sewed up the dress with a few days to spare. I went back on to the blog post yesterday and could no longer find the download buttons and today the post doesn't appear at all. I hope that the post and downloadable pattern will return soon. I'm sorry that the pattern I'm reviewing may in fact no longer be available. 

The Ludivine Robe is a shift dress with a relaxed fit, with multiple sizes, front and back square corner seams, sleeves and front pockets. Some gorgeous versions have been made up.  I went with two fabrics from The Cloth Shop. A pinkish spotty rayon and a black chambray. The chambray was amazing to sew and top stitch. The rayon stretched out of shape, slipped around, top stitched poorly, and wrinkled like a piece of paper being scrunched in a ball. But it is so pretty and soft.

The pattern, instructions and blog post are all in french. I used Google translator to figure out what size to sew, that I needed to add seam allowances, and the general process of instructions. I cut a size 38, graded into a 40 from the waist down. I mostly sewed the dress following my own process. For the pocket, I finished the upper seam, attached the bottom of the pocket right side facing and the folded the pocket up into the correct position and basted the sides down.

To construct the dress you need to sew four corner seams. I've sewn quite a few of these before, but the rayon did not place nice. I started with the front corners and they are much messier than the back corners. After the first one I interfaced the three other corners to help stabilize the rayon. I attached the sleeves only to find that the arm hole was a little tight and the sleeves were way too tight, I ended up omitting the sleeves all together  and just cutting some thick binding for arm hole cuffs. I also had to take out the seams from my bottom down on the side, front and back seams so that walking was a possibility.

While I think this dress is super cute it really isn't a great fit. It gapes at the front and back neckline. That, coupled with my poor sewing, means that I almost didn't finish the dress. I'm glad I did though, as there is something about it I really love. The pockets and design lines are very sweet. I hope to make another version of this dress after making some serious fit adjustments. 

I would recommend this pattern for an advanced beginner who is comfortable adding seam allowances, sewing corner seams and doesn't require sewing instructions (unless you happen to speak French).
If you like this post, check out my Sew Cheap: Top Tips,  Sew Cheap: Free Patterns and previous Sew Cheap posts.