Pattern Review: Shirtdress #35 from Ottobre Design Magazine 4/2010

What do we have here? We've got pockets with pleating and binding. There's more pleats at the back, and flapped patch pockets. We have sleeve button tabs, a stand up collar, back shoulder darts and a whole lotta topstitching. Put it all together and whaddya got? One finished shirtdress - hooray!
This would have to be one of the more involved things I have made to date. None of it was hard per se, but there sure was a lot going on. Don't tell anybody, but I totally screwed up the button band placket. Silly me slashed my placket opening to make a square, rather than a triangle. D'oh - next time, read the instructions before you let the scissors anywhere near the fabric, Jorthy! I did manage to salvage it, but trust me - it was a close run thing, and there may have been swearing. Just a teensy bit, but it was definitely there. Ahem!

The tencel denim, which I bought when I was still at Tessuti, is so soft and lovely, but slippery as heck, so if you were new to sewing and wanted to make this, I would stick to a well behaved cotton instead. The tencel also creases before you can say "boo!", but it's so deliciously velvety on the skin that I will forgive it anything.

Erm, what else? I quite enjoyed doing all the bits and bobs on this garment, especially the pleats. I'm such a sucker for pleats - they are so easy to do, but look so impressive! I am also quite partial to the pocket edge binding. It's all those extra details that make a home-sewn piece look more professional, in my opinion.

I'm very very happy with the sizing of this - I sometimes find that the Ottobre patterns can err a bit on the side of larger rather than smaller, but this fits the Tyger like a dream. The only thing I would do differently is to use a finer fusing for the button band, as I feel mine looks a bit thick, but that's probably me just being nitpicky, and has nothing to do with that pattern at all.

All in all, it's a terrific, well drafted pattern - another winner from Ottobre. Just don't expect to get it finished in a flash - especially if you are sewing to a deadline, as there is a lot of work in this one. Still, I did manage to get it to the birthday girl only one day late, so that's not too bad!

Project Details
Pattern: Shirtdress #35 from Ottobre Design Magazine 4/2010, size 128
Fabric: 1.5m tencel denim from Tessuti Fabrics (purchased a year and a half ago)
Notions: 13 buttons