A waistcoat started and THAT dress!

I achieved another of my August goals.  I bought Burda 3403 with a view to making a waistcoat for my daughter's fiancé, A, as requested. I was given his sizes, which fall between the 38 and 40 and decided to make up a toile for him to try when I see him next.

This doesn't even show the waistcoat! 

I decided to cut out the 40. This really only involved the fronts and the back. I drew on the pocket, tabs and button/buttonhole positions. I made it up in ghastly white polyester fabric. No final fabric has been chosen - this is for size only, to give a later starting point.

My husband tried this pared down waistcoat on and reckons it will be a pretty good fit. It was okay for him, perhaps a touch neat, but he and A are about the same height (about 6') and DH has a slightly larger chest size, more 40 - 42". The length was good. A is an athlete and had a broad back so I can only wait and see.

Tonight, before posting this, I decided to look at any available reviews for the waistcoat. One review said the waistcoat was rather neat, the other that it was rather loose, so who knows! One suggested it was a difficult sew (it's labelled as 'average'), but at least I have some help available should I need it. Maybe I should have read the reviews before buying the pattern! It's a lot cheaper than the Vogue one, though. A hasn't seen it so I hope this is the style he had in mind. I do have another waistcoat pattern, but he did see that and felt it was too casual.

I made Butterick 5951, view A,

I do have a waist - really!

but disliked both the style and the colour. I couldn't do anything about the latter but wondered if anything could be done to improve the fit and appearance. R and D, who are designers and pattern fitters, run the sewing bee I attended and were happy to advise. They agreed that the fit was poor, felt the design was faulty and didn't like the colour on me. I suggested that the design might be faulty because I had made changes but they didn't agree. They looked at adding a sloping bust dart to give some much needed shape,  pulling in the sides,  removing the shoulder gathering which they felt was not in the right place - they would normally expect to see this coming from further forward,  from a yoke,  for example. Maybe other changes too - my head was swimming a little! And R felt there would still be some unwanted poufing at the sides. I said that I didn't want to spend a long time on it if it really wasn't worth it.  They suggested starting by taking the shoulder seam apart and they would be able to give a better idea.

My dress was fully lined (bagged), understitched etc., so taking apart was no small undertaking. They were surprised that the lining is basically a duplicate of the dress, complete with shoulder gathering. This gave a little extra flexibility.

However, D looked at me after I had taken the shoulder apart and she had examined and asked if I would actually wear the dress in that colour after I'd put in a great deal of work. 'Probably not'.  D suggested that I use the skirt and its lining and simply make up a waistband or facing. I've decided I will do this.

DH doesn't think the colour is even ideal for a skirt but we'll see. I could wear a maroon (or maybe it's Marsala, Pantone colour of the year!) top. I might wear it as a skirt - I was never going to wear as a dress - and I couldn't give it away as a dress because I didn't feel the style made sense and the dress looked unattractive even on the hanger.

So as of the end of today, one dress fewer, one dress more (for daughter -separate post), one potential skirt on the way, and the various toiles I mentioned in an earlier post well under way. I feel I'm becoming a little faster. Just as well!