Twirl to Me: a pattern in the making

There's a lesson to be learnt from this dress. Always, ALWAYS measure those little printer test squares before you make a pattern. Seriously guys, this is my own pattern. I put the test squares there myself, but did I bother to measure them? No! I could have saved myself a whole day of angst. But on the plus side, it did make me add another cutting line to the pattern for the extra option of a tunic/top as well as a dress.

I also discovered some nifty little post-make fixes for the dress, should the sizing not be perfectly spot on (which happens, because who is a standard size anyway?). The true size of this version is a 5. I thought I was sewing a size 3! Miss Six is a tall size 6, and Miss 3 is a perfect size 3, so this dress doesn't actually fit either of them. But I guess it gives you an idea of how the dress will look if you accidentally make a size too small or a few sizes too big.

 

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, I've been hinting (not so subtly) at the fact that I'm in the process of putting this dress into a PDF pattern. It's certainly been a rollercoaster ride for me so far, not helped by the fact that I am perhaps somewhat of a perfectionist. In fact, my husband, having seen the way I've been fretting over corners, lines, and calculations, has decided that I've missed my calling and thinks I should get myself into coding.

It will be my first PDF pattern so my anxiety levels are probably higher than normal. I want it to be perfect, as you can imagine. And it's close. It should be...these dresses are now exploding out of my daughters' wardrobes and I'm running out of nieces.

I'm just about to enter the third phase of testing. We're talking human trials (unrelated humans). So I'm going to include a sign up form here for those of you with a little human, who would like to consider testing for me. I'm not interested if you have a blog or any other social media account. All I want is honest feedback from a range of different sizes. I will need to see some photos though, on a real human, so that I can see your creation and how it fits. Unfortunately I can't pay you, but I will value your time and efforts immeasurably, and of course provide you with a final version of the pattern when it is eventually released.