Sewing My First Dress Which Turned into a Tunic

I took the plunge and decided to progress from making my own skirt to making a dress. As with most sewing projects I start they do not alway go to plan - is that just me as a novice dressmaker. I started badly by not taking the time to pick a suitable dress pattern. Instead I went we a free pattern from Prima magazine, minus the magazine which I am sure must have included extra guidance inside. 

My choice was influenced by the design using elastic at the front of the dress, I thought this would help the fitting and my s shaped spine, because of my scoliosis. I had decided to make a mock up dress first, necklines and sleeves were all new to me.  

• The pattern instructions were poor,  googling confirmed this as other sewers encounter similar problems.
• The casing using the strip of elastic looked awful and was arkward to sew.

I had to fit the dress wearing the fabric the right side, because of my scoliosis I can not pin inside out, as all the adjustment would then be on the wrong side. Fortunely my sister helped with the tricky pinnning. Not perfect but it was just a mock up and I was now more comfortable I had the pattern peices adjusted correctly and confident with the sleeves, not so much the neckline.The Final Garment

I even ventured to use fabric with polka dot pattern, an easy forgiving print to match up. I had to make my own bias binding for the neckline - tricky.  I changed the elastic casing and used rows of sherring elastic instead, much easier and a neater finish. It took me three attempts, to sew the binding around the neckline neatly enough that I was happy with it. 

Prima Pattern Tunic* 

Oh and one more thing, I had a slight misjudgement with the hem line, so the dress quickly turned into a tunic. 

I am still wearing it though!

*Apologies for the quality of the photograph not one of my better ones.