It’s taken me a hot minute to get back into the swing of blogging things this year, but here we are. This one is the Tilly and the Buttons Zadie Dress which I finished last year but had bought the fabric about a year before that. I would arguably call this a somewhat wearable muslin. But before we get into construction, let’s talk style. A friend of mine made this. She let me try hers on and it was so super cute that I said, I have to make it.
I love the lines on this. Super flattering with fantastic pockets that are seamlessly just part of the style. You could fit your entire lunch in one and a change of clothes in the other. Plus, let’s not forget that it’s stretchy, so it’s totally secret pajamas. It’s a great length that is both flattering and modest. And the cute little cap sleeves to top it off. It’s supposed to be slightly high waisted, but actually fits right around my waist since I’m short waisted so I didn’t need to make any alterations. This is a straight size 3.
Unfortunately, I had some issues with construction. My big issue was the seam at the waistline. But that looks fine, you say. And yes, it looks fine on the outside, but it’s the inside I had issues with. It’s just not comfortable. Because of the way the pockets are attached the seam is pressed up and naturally goes that way. But that means it also sticks out a bit. Owing to the loose nature of this dress (which is actually one of the things I love about it), the waist is not right up against you. But that means that it kinda brushes against you as you move in a kinda an annoying tickling way, like an errant hair that you can feel, but can’t seem to get off you.
When constructing it, they recommended adding interfacing in the seam to give it structure so it doesn’t droop, which I did. But unfortunately, that also added bulk. You can kinda seeing it peeking out there (the white) because my serger had issues with it. I’m not sure why since it’s not that many layers and my serger has handled much thicker, but it didn’t help the situation. In general, serging that seam was a mistake. It would have been softer just to leave it.
So now I have this chunky seam that rubs against me and I just can’t get over it. I was able to get over it a little bit by covering it with a piece of fabric that’s attached at the sides. This helped quite a bit but it’s still not a dress that I reach for and really given all its other qualities, it should be.
There are three ways I think I could fix this (at least for now; maybe I’ll think of another later):
- Not serge it. The unserged seam would be much softer. And since it’s knit, it won’t unravel.
- Or, somehow add a lining to the front that encloses this waist seam. But given the way the pockets are sewn in there, I’m not sure that’s entirely feasible in a more comfortable way.
- Or, create a single piece for both pockets that is stitched on over the waist seam and hangs down, thereby covering the seam. This one seems a bit more doable, but would probably create a weird bump across the waistline.
So it looks like the first option is the one to try. Yeah, I thought about removing the serge stitches, but I think that would make it worse at this point. Obviously this will need to be done on my next iteration. This is why we make a muslin, right? (Even if we tried to cheat and make this one a real dress and not a test version.) But given how cute and work friendly this is, there’s a high likelihood that I will indeed sew this again despite the issues I had. I may even use the same fabric which is some lovely midweight ponte from Stonemountain & Daughter. I believe it’s ponte leggero, but that’s definitely charcoal color which they only have in arietta so I’m not honestly sure. But it’s smooth and has great drape. If it looks familiar, that’s because it’s actually the same fabric I used for my Flawesome shirt.
So despite the issues I had, I do actually recommend this pattern. Other than the issues at the waistband (don’t serge that seam!), it goes together pretty easily and looks really cute. Stay tuned for when I do this one again and hopefully have different results 🙂
chunky seam rhymes with monkey dream and donkey team