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For the last few years I’ve been periodically meeting up with a group of local women who I initially found through the Capsule Wardrobe Sew-Along group on Facebook. Sometimes we sew, sometimes we talk about sewing, other times we go out to eat (and talk about sewing), and we’ve also gone shopping together (sewing shopping of course!). It’s so great to have local friends who are all comfortable to nerd out together haha.
Our meetups have usually been spearheaded by Mac, so when she messaged me to ask if I’d be willing to test her first pattern from Sew Altered Style, of COURSE I had to say yes!
I was immediately drawn to the back straps of the Misty Top & Dress. The back has two options – one with a strappy criss-cross back, and another with a wider traditional strap. Of course I opted for the impractical criss cross strap (impractical because there’s no way I’m going to wear a strapless bra on a normal day, lol THOUGH, I did see a tester wear a lacy bralette under hers and I thought that looked like a cute way to do it!).
The Misty can be made in three lengths – top, short dress and knee length dress. I opted for knee length, but it was too long so I cut off a few inches to make it closer to the short dress instead.
There’s also 4 waist options – a belt with belt loops, an elastic waist, a belt with casing, or nothing. I opted for the belt with belt loops.
The dress has optional pockets. I placed mine according to the pattern (which was a bit too low), but the final pattern has them moved further up.
The pattern has a pretty inclusive size range, from 0 – 30 with AB and CD cup sizes. I made a size 2 A/B.
Since I’m so flat chested now (farewell nursing boobs!), I did have trouble with the A/B combined cup. Katie (co-owner of Sew Altered Style) suggested removing the dart and then doing a full bust adjustment – I may do that for my next one, once I work out how :P. I did move the dart up by 2 inches, but after looking at these photos, I think maybe an inch was all that was needed. Thanks to Mac I did work out how to move the dart, so YAY me!
The front and back of the dress is finished with a facing. I think I might make mine a little longer next time as the edge of the facing seems to be a bit visible on the outside of my dress.
The fabric I used for my dress was from the way-back-when collection in my stash. I bought it from Zincks Fabric Outlet a number of years ago in the Amish area of PA. I remember it being super cheap – I want to say $1 p/yard or so. It is very lightweight and I want to say it’s 100% cotton, but it probably has a little polyester in it.
So about these photos. I had meant to take them a few days ago but naturally, there was a massive rain storm on Monday which put the kibosh on that plan. I was waiting for my husband to get home yesterday so I could get my photos taken. I’d checked the weather report and it showed cloudy, no rain. As I finished setting up my backdrop on our deck, SPLAT. Dark gray skies LOOMED. I hurried inside to grab my dress just as I heard my husband walk through the door. And my dress? Totally crushed and desperately needing ironing. I threw it on as quickly as I could, hubs took the photos, and we then moved all my equipment back inside as the downpour unleashed itself. And then I realized that the facing on the back was flipped up, and doctoring photos to make a dress not looked creased all over wasn’t particularly easy. Sigh. Moral of the story: don’t leave things to the last minute. I’ll try to remember that. LOL.
Anyways, I hope you like this dress/top! Go support this new pattern company by buying the Sew Altered Style Misty Top/Dress while it’s on sale – use code MISTY20 for 20% off through Sunday August 4!
auschick sews 