Scirocco Dress

Hey!  Did you buy the Sew Fab Pattern Bundle that was for sale a few months ago?  Have you tried out all the patterns in the bundle yet?  I'm slowly making my way through them, and I am determined to give pretty much every single one a try eventually.

So far, I've made the Ruby Lou Doll, the Commuter Cowl, the Alex & Anna Summer PJ's, the Modern Folksy Bunny, and now, Figgy's Scirocco Dress!  Five down and thirteen more to go!  Whew!

I actually made the Scirocco Dress right after I bought the pattern bundle, but for some reason or another, I just haven't taken the time to blog about it.  It's an amazing little dress with such a grown up feel to it.  Ella wore it for two days straight at the end of February when we were having freezing weather!  She didn't care.  She thought it was fun and different and great to spin around in!  Here's the first picture I took of her in it.  Look at that attitude!

The first time I saw this pattern, I knew I wanted it, but at the time, I think it was only available in paper form.  I was lazy and didn't want to spend that much money plus shipping on a single pattern, so I waited and waited until I saw it in pdf form for sale in the Sew Fab Pattern Bundle. I'm pretty sure all of Figgy's patterns are now for sale as pdf's, too, and at a fraction of the cost in case you missed the Sew Fab sale.

Anyway, I couldn't wait to make this dress.  I love the unique style of Figgy's patterns and not just for the garment designs, but also for the modern, clean layout and beautifully illustrated and written pattern instructions.  When you make a Figgy's pattern, you will learn something new everytime, and I mean the professional way to sew it.

I wanted to make this dress stand out, so I chose to hem the flounces with a narrow bias trim and sew red piping down the center pleats.  One friend commented that Ella reminds her of a Flamenco dancer wearing this.  Well, she sort of does!

The trickiest part of making this dress was the back bodice.  I had to read through the instructions multiple times and in fact cut out two extra pieces by accident because I thought I had done it wrong the first time!  Once I figured it all out, it was one of those ah-ha moments!

I followed the sizing chart provided in the Scirocco Pattern and based on Ella's measurements chose to make a size 4/5.  Now the only complaint I have is about the fit of the upper bodice.  I've seen several other posts where people have made this dress, and most appear to have the same issue.  The bodice puckers at the sides on the back at the waist, and the reason for this is that the bodice is too long.  If I pinch the should seams up an inch or two, the puckering is gone.  That's a note I'm adding to my pattern instructions as a reminder to shorten the shoulder seam next time I make it!

Have you tried out the Scirocco Dress Pattern by Figgy's?  If so, leave me a comment and tell me what you think of the pattern and/or a link to your blog post about it.  Now, I think it's time to go do some dancing!  Ole!

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