Sort of not a Coco at all....

Hello all,

So, this is what I hoped would be my 'simple' Minerva make - you know, after the trauma of last month!

And I guess it was (simple, that is)

The plan was to make a Tilly & the Buttons Coco dress

I thought - it's simple, it's quick, and it's similar to what I wear to work on a daily basis, and aren't we all always going on about how we need to sew sensible pieces that we will use everyday?

I myself change into a uniform at my place of work, so the clothing I wear on a daily is worn to-work and from-work, and usually no longer (I love my pjs)

And as I am usually running late, and getting changed is a giant pain in the arse, it's awfully nice to wear a simple knit dress. Whip over head and step into uniform.

Bingo

But of course nothing ever goes to plan!

Before we go anywhere, let me show you the dress.

I would like to forewarn you that I look mad as hell, but I was actually channeling a moody ambiance for the photo shoot. Cheery photos didn't feel right for 'the look', lol.

Here goes

You may notice a few things about this dress, the first probably being that it is definitely not a Coco dress.

You would probably bet your bottom dollar that I had swerved and made a Nettie dress.

Wrong.

The dress did indeed begin it's life as a Coco.

But it was god awful on me.

Basically, I decided that I would make a Coco, but I didn't want it to be as short as drafted as I'm not one for the short skirts. So I added 4" in the 'shorten/lengthen' line. and then followed the line of the upper waist down to the hem, but marginally wider (about 5/8"). 

I think this was my first mistake.

My second mistake was trying to make the dress reversible.

Because, as you may not realise, this is actually the wrong side of the fabric.

I had ordered the Grey Embossed Floral Ponte Roma, but the dress in my head was nothing like the dress on me. The picture also makes the fabric look a bit shinier and more metallic.

This is a nice enough print, but I think I could only get away with having it as a pencil skirt or something.

Not as an all over print.

Anywho, as the plain grey was so nice, I had this wonderful idea of flat-felling the seams to make the dress reversible. Lets just say all that remains of that idea are some flat-felled shoulders I couldn't be bothered to unpick (again)

But it was only when I started putting the dress together did I only realise fully how awful the fabric was on me. 

So I abandoned the reversible.

Only once I had the dress finished did I realise how awful the dress was on me.

Honestly, I think the main problem was those 4 extra inches of length.

It was drafted to sit at the point it does for a reason.

Once I realised this I was about to throw in the towel, hold up my hands and say "Sorry, I messed up, but I cannot and will not put this online as something I created". Although now I am slightly regretting not taking a 'before' picture!

But something in me pulled myself together, and began to hack.

And hack I did.

Firstly, I grabbed a fitted pencil skirt from my wardrobe, plonked it down on the dress and drew around it with chalk. I sewed that and tried it on.

Then began the 6 million tryings-on and tweakings of the dress.

In total I think I changed the skirt, took in the waist an additional time, scooped the neck, took in the bust side seams through to the armpit, pegged the skirt a little more and then took little extra bits at the hips that were sticking out funny.

Bits and pieces like that.

I have also taken in the sleeves since these photos were taken, to give a more snug and fitted finish.

I didn't set out to make a Nettie-lookalike, it only struck me once I took these photos, but it looks a bit like one to me! An unconcious homage to Heather Lou

Now this dress would not be the thing I normally wear. If you know me, you know I do not do fitted very often, and I hate anything clinging to my stomach. 

(In the interest of full disclosure: I am wearing some awesome controlwear in these photos)

But (with the controlwear) I really enjoyed wearing this dress! I felt sassy and wiggly, and a bit like a secretary - but in a good way - especially with a pair of heels on!

So there we go, not my usual on here but I learned stuff, and that's always good.

Has anyone else saved a disaster recently?

Emmie x