'Memba This?

Remember the Tunic Dress I was making? You can read about it's beginnings here and here.



Well, it's done. I wore it for the first time yesterday, to a production of my son's acting class at college.

I hadn't planned yet on how to wear it; ultimately I decided it looked better with a belt, and I pulled out an old gold chain belt for yesterday's outing. It was okay, but I think I will make a simple self-belt of the dress fabric and wear it at my natural waist. I had problems with the sizing. Sewing patterns (this was a McCall's) DO NOT have the vanity sizing that we're used to at J.Crew and Banana Republic, however the pattern charts aren't quite accurate either. I customarily wear a six on the bottom and eight on the top in the store; according to the pattern chart I wear a fourteen! So I originally cut the fabric to a size fourteen, and ended up trimming it down to a twelve. I still think it's a little big which in my opinion, in this sort of tunic shape, adds pounds; I like to think a more body-skimming (say, a ten in the McCall's size chart) would have been a bit more flattering. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking?

Here it is with the chain belt:



And here it is without.



What do you think?