Geometric Emery Dress

Hold the phone, stop the bus and start a newsflash! It's an Emery dress! I think I have seen more Emery dresses, or variations of, than any other pattern so this isn't really newsworthy stuff here. However I think I made the best one. At least its my personal favourite. Since this is one of the only two I can actually wear I think thats perfect. I am delighted with the finished item.

Things I love about this dress:
1. The fabric! When I saw this fabric at Guthrie&Ghani I couldn't leave it in the (online) shop. I think it is beautiful and the colours are basically my chosen colour palette all in one fabric. In real life the print is just as gorgeous and really suits my style.
2. The fit is almost perfect, I've made one other Emery dress and the fit seemed pretty good so I didn't make any changes. I was actually planning to make some this time having not really done any alterations before (and I wanted to try it out) but it turns out, at least for this pattern, I don't really need to.
3. The dress pattern is really lovely. I can see why this dress is one of the most popular patterns for the last few years on the blogosphere, its simple, elegant and flattering without being overly dressy.
4. It is very wearable and fills (or starts to fill) the 'I need a few more casual(ish) dresses' gap in my wardrobe. This was something I identified during Me-Made-May and I know some people wouldn't describe this as casual however I would definitely wear it on the school run (and have) so I give it the casual seal of approval.

Things I'd consider doing differently next time:
1. While I absolutely LOVE the design of the fabric, its a little bit itchy. This may be in part because I've worn it during the hottest week I can remember living through but even when its a little cooler its still just a teensy bit itchy. Nothing so bad that I won't wear it, and even if I had felt this fabric before buying I love the print so much that I would have bought it any way because, well - did I mention I love the print? But its not quite as soft as I expected.
2. The general fit is great but the armholes are quite low under my arms. I guess I didn't notice this on my first one because it has sleeves but I'll probably try and change this next time.
3. I'd use a longer zip. I really wanted to try and make a whole dress without looking at the instruction (and I did) so was pretty proud when it was finished, but after I had already inserted the zip I realised it was not the right length so I have to perform some pretty funky looking acrobatics to actually put it on. My daughter actually said to me when I first tried it - 'Mummy I think you have made it too small.' Well I proved her wrong - but it wasn't easy. Next time looking at the instructions just for this detail would totally be Ok with me.

Next on my sewing table is some workout gear so a BIG step away from this, but I kind of like the contrast. I'll show you it all in good time. Happy Summer! Zoe x