I’ve managed to finish my latest make and get photos just in time for the #sewnwithbutterick February challenge.
Talking of challenges this butterick pattern gave me a couple which I mention in a previous post mainly because I needed to make a couple of alterations,
a) I needed to shorten it as I’m only 5 ft but there are no lengthen or shorten lines
b) I needed to make an armhole adjustment but there is no bust apex mark
The main challenge was the asymmetric hem and the panel on the left side. See my previous posts if you are interested in how I overcame this

Because of the panel on the front hem you do have to decide your length and alter the pattern before you sew together, you can’t just adjust the length at the end. The pattern says the length is 37 inches 94 cm, on me this came to the back on my knees so I did shorten by 6 cm, but as I say I’m only 5 ft so I think on a tall person this would really be much shorter than shown on the pattern photo so worth bearing in mind.

Even though I shortened it I did have to add another button down the front as the last button hole on the pattern was far too high!

I did have a change of heart when I cut my fabric as I was originally going to use a mint coloured viscose linen, but as I was ironing it ready to cut I realised it was a little too transparent and the hemline meant I wouldn’t be able to wear a slip. So in the end I thought I would use this viscose linen I bought from Minerva last June, unfortunately it’s no longer available but this pattern would suit any linen fabrics. Just bear in mind that you can see the reverse side of the fabric where the right asymmetric hem falls.

When I cut out this pattern I was a bit worried I didn’t have all the pieces because I seemed to have 2 pieces numbered 18, right back, but it turned out ok so I really hope that someone else isn’t missing this piece.

Virtually every piece of this pattern is cut out singly so laying out the pattern pieces means you need a lot of space, it’s also very important to make sure you lay the pattern pieces the right side up making sure the left and right sides are cut out the right way. Who wants 2 left fronts, as they say measure twice cut once, in this case check twice cut once 😃

It is a very straightforward pattern to make but beware when sewing the right side seam, it is cut on the bias so it’s important not to stretch it when sewing.

I purposely didn’t sew this together in the order of the instructions, as I wanted to ensure that the front button facing matched perfectly. As the right facing is set due to the hem panel rather than sew across the left button facing as per the instructions I measured it first against the right. Sewing the hem point first I think is too dangerous, who wants misaligned button bands!

Other things to consider, this dress only has one pocket on the right asymmetric side, on reflection I would have preferred it to have 2 so if you have enough fabric I would definitely cut a second and insert it on the left side too.
The one pocket it does have is not inserted into the seam you have to snip to exactly where the side seam will be, then turn the pocket slot in and hem. The pocket is then sewn onto the inside of the front. The front and back side seams are then sewn together but you have to be very careful to sew over the exact point where you snipped and hemmed but not to catch the pocket opening into the side seam if that makes sense.
To overcome this once the pocket was sewn to the front, I did sew a basting line of about an inch just over the pocket edge so I could see exactly where the snip point was so that there wasn’t a tiny raw hole left showing.


Overall I’m really happy with the end result and
If you’ve got to the end of this post thanks for reading and hope it’s useful


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