Blank Slate Patterns Marigold Dress

I’m finally getting into the summery stuff!

Dresses; all the dresses. Maybe.

There really is no interesting backstory to this dress (does there always have to be one???) other than I wanted a vintage-looking elastic waist dress.

It was down to the Penny Dress by Sew Over it and this one. This one won because the Penny is a PDF that you have to tape together (shudder), it does not have a copy shop version. The Marigold does have a copy shop version, and I had already had printed to boot!

So, the Marigold it was!

This pattern does not have finished bust or waist measurements listed so I couldn’t go by that to pick a size. This is, however, meant to have quit a bit of ease so I decided to go with the size L even though my full bust measurement is slightly larger than the body measurements listed.

I took my chances and it turned out OK.

The only fitting adjustment I made was to remove 1″ at the waist seam in the back starting at the center back and tapering out to nothing at the side seams. I’ve said this before but for me it’s a quick and dirty way to both adjust for full bust when you are also short (I didn’t need length in the front) and also remove back bodice length to solve swayback issues. There are other, better, ways to do this but for an elastic waist dress that is not actually fitted, this works for me.

I opted not to attach the sleeves because the neckline is pretty high on me and I felt that having sleeves, even cap sleeves, might be a bit overwhelming. I’m happy with this choice.

As far as construction, I deviated in the collar. To be honest, I hardly looked at the instructions. I interfaced my collar as I normally would and it wasn’t until later that I realized the pattern says the collar is designed to not be interfaced.

I do not recommend not interfacing the collar. I am currently making a second version of this pattern and I decided to follow the instructions and not interface the collar. It’s not pretty at all; it’s actually quite unwearable, but more on that another time. Just interface at least one collar piece, trust me.

And the last thing, which is totally my fault, I misjudged the placement of the button I usually place on the fullest part of my bust and now the button band gapes a little, but not enough to see my bra or anything like that.