I can’t be alone in keeping old handmade garments that no longer fit. I have quite a few of them that I’m ready to take out of my wardrobe and accept not being able to wear again, but I do struggle to say goodbye to the beautiful fabric they’re made of. So I do keep a lot of them with plans to make them into something else “one day”. Anyone else?
The fabric this True Bias Ogden is made of may actually be my favourite piece of fabric I’ve ever owned. It’s a beautiful Swiss cotton with a slight sheen to it. It’s incredibly soft, it has washed like a dream and seams just disappear with a quick press. Not to mention the beautiful print in all my best colours. I remember when I saw the fabric, on a shopping trip to Goldhawk Road when I lived in London in 2014. It wasn’t on my list, it wasn’t what I’d been looking for but once I’d seen it I couldn’t leave it behind. Now I wish I’d bought the whole bolt!
The fabric of dreams was made into this Emery dress, which was a firm favourite for years:
Post children, however, it doesn’t fit, and somewhere along the road a sleeve ripped, so I carefully packed it away in the “refashion” box for one day when I could transform it into something else.
The Ogden was a natural choice. I’ve wanted to make this pattern for so long, and it’s one of my Make Nine for this year, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone and make the dress into an Ogden. There looks to be loads of material to work with in that dress, doesn’t it? Well, I managed to do it, but only just! The front piece was cut out of the skirt front, I had to have a centre back seam and piece the lining from the dress sleeves, but I did it!
I do love the lines of the Ogden, it seems to flatter everyone I’ve seen it on. I made up a straight size 16 to check the fit, and I do feel I need to make some tweaks to get the fit right for me. It is most evident from the side. The top just hangs off my bust and it feels quite tent-like. I do enjoy the swingy, roomy feeling but may just scale that back a bit.
Here I’ve made myself stand absolutely flat and straight so you can see what I mean. The front hem is also riding up a lot so I plan to do an FBA and add a dart to my next version, and perhaps grade down to a smaller size at the waist and hips to tackle the feeling of too much fabric around my middle.
There also seems to be a slight issue with the neckline/armholes. You can see some strange pulling of the fabric under my left arm in these pictures, I don’t know what that’s all about. I would like the straps to cover my bra straps so I may need to move them out slightly and redraw the neckline.
So that’s all left me feeling:
Pleased with myself for finally refashioning the dress-made-of-dream-fabric
Smug that I can tick another of my Make Nine off and it’s only February
Slightly disappointed that I’m not 100% happy with the fit
Frustrated that I have to do some fit work when I’d rather sew up new things
Determined to do version 2.0 ASAP so I don’t lose the will to
So satisfied with the sewing of this project and impressed with the pattern. I can see why it’s so popular. Pulling those straps through was loverly!
I wonder if there’s anything in the refashion box that I can make the next version out of…
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