Frocktails and a new Elisalex

Recently the Aussie blogosphere has been all atwitter with excitement at the idea of Frocktails.  The basic premise - make a dress, wear it and turn up for a night of dinner and cocktails - brilliant!  The lovely Kat of All the Whimsical Things tirelessly organised the event to be held at a local Melbourne restaurant and 28 sewists turned out in self-made dresses and it was fabulous!!

with Amanda of Bimble & Pimble

I didn't take nearly as many pictures as intended, I guess I was talking too much - so jump across to Mel's blog for more pics and to see everyone's wonderful dresses.

Belle, Rachel, Mel and Kat

Needless to say, a new dress was required for the occasion. I settled on another version of the Elisalex, I love my previous version but of course I have already worn that - I needed something new!

As I had made it before construction wise I didn't change too much although I did cut a much smaller size in the shoulders, this time was a 6 and grading to a 10 for the rest of the bodice.  I raised the shoulders about 1cm and took a 1" wedge out of the upper back which resulted in a near perfect fit.

But my pièce de résistance is the pockets - not only have I put some in, I had an idea (brilliant if I say so myself) of putting an invisible zipper on one so that I could put my cards & cash in for going out.  No more carrying a handbag or worrying where it is when I have had too many cocktails. Genius I say!!  (yep modest much?)

Can you see the zip?? Me neither!!

Whilst I was in Melbourne I also did rather a lot of fabric shopping so I may have to consider a self-imposed ban whilst I do a bit of catch up! Ok, considered and I don't want to be rash, what if something else comes along? ;)

Look out for next year's meetup in Sydney!!

Completed: Elisalex Dress

Today I had a work function to attend, at the races!  When I heard about it my first thought was that of course I would need a new dress.  It is winter here at the moment...OK, not winter by you Northern America or Europe folks standards, but winter nonetheless.  Yep, I know it doesn't get below 8º Celsius (46ºF) at night and during the day is mostly around 20 degrees (68ºF), but we are conditioned to be soft and this is cold for me!! 

When deciding which dress pattern to make my first thought was the Elisalex by By Hand London as it has a sleeve option - winner!!  I have seen so many lovely options around the blogosphere, have you seen Dolly Clackett's versions here and here or Ooobop's version?

This is my first time making this up, although I had made a rough muslin a few weeks ago.  My muslin was quite dodgy obviously as I ended up having to do quite a few alterations to this make.  I cut a size 12 and didn't do an FBA as I thought with the princess seams I would have plenty of room for adjustment.  This worked a treat, my issues were elsewhere and I will detail those soon.

Excuse the wrinkles, I have worn this all day!

Aside from the alterations that really only come down to my body shape, this pattern comes together easily and beginners should not be afraid to try it as there is plenty of options to alter the fit and princess seams to me are very forgiving for this.

My alterations:
- additional 2" off the back centre seam (1" each side?
- narrowing shoulder seam by approx. 1"
- shortening bodice by 1"
- bringing in side seams by .25"
- narrowed sleeves by approx 1"
- shortened the skirt by 8" - yep 8", this dress is made for tall people!!
- inserted an invisible zip instead of an exposed one

Due to these changes the sleeves no longer fitted in the armhole, but instead of redrafting the curve I decided to pleat them at the top with a box pleat that you can just see in the pic above.

I also changed the construction method a bit, instead of hand stitching the lining at the sleeves, I caught it in when attaching the sleeves. I realize I never photograph the insides to show you, so here is how I finish my garments.  Most of the time I just overlock my seams, no fancy bound seams for me!

One other addition I made was to add bra strap stays. As the shoulders are quite wide (perhaps more so on me, I have narrow shoulders?) when trying it on my straps kept peeking out - I hate that, so this afterthought, whilst not super attractive is certainly functional.  For future makes (and there will be more) I will do this again, but will catch the strap in when attaching the lining so it is more tidy.



Initially I was not sure how this silhouette would look on me, I thought the tulip skirt might make me look hippy, but now it is finished I love it. I think the contrast of the fitted top and the tulip skirt really makes the waist look smaller.  I got so many compliments today and people were asking where my dress was from. There were 80 people at the function and three people were wearing the same dress so at least I was safe from that happening!

Did you notice I made a matching fascinator?  I was also nominated for one of the best hats of the day!

As for how I went at the races...I didn't win anything - I am terrible at picking horses.  I am, however, good at the eating and drinking bit and chose to excel in these areas - especially the bubbly!!