No stress, this dress: Elisalex

After the sewing marathon that was my Pastille dress, I needed something that was a lot more simple.  I had planned to make Deer and Doe's Belladone dress next, but I couldn't face the potential fitting issues with the back just yet, so I went with By Hand London's Elisalex dress instead.  I've had this pattern and fabric for a while, but with the summer weather being good, I knew I wouldn't wear this until the Autumn.  And you know what, it's true what everybody says about this pattern, it really is easy peasy. 

 

 

I did make life a bit easier for myself with fitting the front of the bodice though.  I couldn't be bothered faffing about with a FBA, so I used the bodice from NL6723 (made here, here and here) which I had previously fitted, and sort of merged the two bodices in a very un-scientific, hap-hazard way.  Some may call that cheating: I prefer to see it as utilising available resources.

 

Unfortunately I failed to realise that the Elisalex shoulders were wider, so mine is a little bit too wide on the shoulders.  Also the curve on the back neckline needs pinched out a bit, you can see where it's curving out in the photo below.  I'll fix the pattern before the next one (because there will be more!), but I can live with it on this.

 

I used 1.5 metres of this fabric which is 55% linen and 45% cotton from Backstitch, and it was £10.50 a metre.  It's lovely fabric, and is about the same thickness and drape as 100% linen.  It's a bit more drapey than I thought it would be, so the skirt doesn't sit out as much at the sides, but  I think the pleats look lovely. 

 

 

I lined the bodice with some white cotton lawn, and put some polka dot ribbon around the hem just because.

I'm loving my work on the invisible zip!

 

There weren't too many mods to this, which made Mr BB declare, "no stress, this dress!"  There was  just the aforementioned pattern mash on the bodice, and I also shortened it by 8 inches.  Then I decided it was too long, and chopped another 2.5 inches off it. 

 

 

This really is the most flattering shape, and seems to suit so many different figures.  The instructions are so easy to follow, and there is also a sewalong on the By Hand London blog here.  I'm about half way through my first Anna dress, and it's been a breeze too!