Happy Halter Dress - Simplicity 4581

I have had this pattern in my to-sew box so long it is now out of print. This is unfortunate because it's a good little halter dress. I made the dress on the model and featured in the upper left-hand corner of this pattern envelope. Perhaps there's a Simplicity archive somewhere you can purchase this? This view I sewed calls for piping, I skipped that part.

Using a mustard colored cotton printed with juniper berries, I cut this out pretty quickly. I used their size 12 and actually graded up to a 14 in a couple spots. This proved a bit problematic later on when matching seams but I was glad I did. I have a big rib cage and it wouldn't have fit otherwise. No joke. Small chest, big rib cage. We all have our faults. And as we know, sizing on patterns is typically cut smaller than ready-to-wear clothing. In dresses I am always a 10, an 8 in certain cuts and on a good day! If you didn't know patterns do not necessarily equal ready-to-wear sizing, learn it now or face much sadness with your seam ripper.

                                                                       Here I am!

Windy!

The halter on this is lined by the middle bodice section and the skirt aren't. I'm considering adding a lining to the skirt. I haven't worn it in the sun yet to see how see through it is but a little modesty never hurt anyone, right?



No warning from photographer



From the back - still windy

I'm really happy with the way it turned out. The pattern didn't have anything too tricky to it as far as skills go: some gathers, invisible zipper, fitting the halter. That's about it. It only took me a couple sessions with my machine to finish too. I'm hoping no one will look too closely at the side seams on the bodice. They cough-don'tquitematchup-cough. I forgot to take into account the fact that I used a combination of sizes. Oh well. It's not that noticeable with the print on the fabric......I hope.

If you can get your hands on this out of print pattern, don't hesitate to stitch it up. Can't wait to wear it as the weather continues to warm up this spring!

This dress kicked off a sewing roll for me. Watch out for lots more projects in the coming weeks. I can't be stopped!