A frock for a High Tea - Stylearc Anthea Dress

I am sure you have seen and read about the Brisbane Sewist's High Tea that was held last Sunday.  I attended and had a lovely time meeting some lovely sewists from SE Qld.  I wish I could have spoken to more of the ladies there.  I did not take any photos of the day but have got some piccies of the dress I made for the occasion.  

I had decided a floral frock was in order for this occasion and had a gorgeous cotton bought from Gardams Fabrics (before they shut up shop locally).  I scoured the net for a suitable pattern and settled on the Stylearc Anthea dress.

I made three muslins of the bodice before cutting into my real fabric.  I think I got a reasonable fit.  My alterations included lowering the bust darts.  I think I actually lowered them a little too much.  

I had gappiness in the arm holes so did my first ever proper fba and also adjusted the back shoulder seam to be cut on more of an angle.  I found this youtube advice very helpful in this regard.  

The only other alteration was to lengthen the bodice slightly.

Oh - and when making a muslin for a bodice I discovered you need to use a zipper as long as specified -  I made my first muslin with a zipper only as long as the bodice and had great issues getting in and out of it!

I fully lined the dress with a chocolate voile which I had in the stash.  Lovely quality bought from Gorgeous fabrics a few years ago  This fabric may be a little too light for a lining but this dress is lovely and cool and comfortable to wear.  I love that separate lining pattern pieces are provided for the skirt.  These have little less fullness than the main skirt... however don't do what I did and cut the lining piece out of the main fabric and the main skirt out of the lining... lucky I had a little extra main fabric!

The instructions are pretty basic and I haven't lined a lot of dresses so still managed to muck up the order of construction.  If you are not familiar with lining a dress I would recommend looking for more details elsewhere as to how to do this.

I love my new dress and it was super comfortable to wear in the Brisbane humidity.  I did enjoy the afternoon and also have the obligatory shot of my haul from the swap.

A lovely green linen, matching lining (not sure I will use it for the linen though), a lovely cotton print and a Megan Neilsen pattern.  The review of my dress is here.  Ciao for now!