My first toile!

With the help of Toile and Trouble I'm making a dress for a wedding I'm going to mid-November.   Away back in July 2011 I asked for some advice here on whether to use McCalls or Simplicity Lisette for my next sewing plans.  I was so happy when both Tilly and Shivani responded - with the same advice, start with the McCalls.  Well the dress never quite happened - until now!

The fabric I used for the toile is an old grey duvet cover.   It's actually a really nice fabric so if I can sort out a few wee mistakes I've made, particularly with the way I've sewn up the top of the zip and facings, then I think I could actually get wear out of this.  After some much-needed advice, and help with the pinning, I managed to install my first invisible zipper - yay! It's far from perfect but it'll do and I'm pleased with my first attempt.  The dress fits pretty well round the hips but it's definitely a bit large on the waist and at the back so, with some more help from Toile and Trouble, I'm sure we can get the pattern altered slightly to make it a bit more fitted.  I thought the sleeves looked like they'd be huge but they actually fit pretty well.  I feel like I'm learning so much all the time now with my sewing - both with help from an IRL friend and help from blogging friends and it's so exciting to see projects come together like this.  I can't wait to get started on the real fabric now - after some pattern tweaking of course!

Not so 'invisible' invisible zip