The much delayed Ileana Dress

I had barely finished the last version of this dress when I had this one already cut out and ready to go.   In fact I've had it sewn up for ages with only the hem to go and only finished it this week! 

The pattern the Ileana dress by Compagnie-m.  I had intended to sew this one with the full circle skirt, but decided the print would probably work better as a half circle skirt again.

This is a Cotton and Steel print I hadn't intended to buy for this dress. I'd gone to the fabric shop with planning to buy something completely different but came out with this lovely fabric.  I made the raglan sleeve version this time, with white sleeves to break up the print a bit.  I'm kind of wishing I'd included some white pockets too,but I'm still very happy with it.

I had cut out a green collar and faux button placket, but the more I looked at it, the more it looked too Christmassy to me so I left it off.  I used green as the bias binding to hem the skirt instead, but you only get a peek here and there.  I'm getting much more confident with installing invisible zippers now (although it still usually involves a tiny bit of unpicking here and there)  I almost had the prints lined up!  I forgot to allow for the seam allowance here when cutting it out.  Lesson learned for next time!

The instructions are easy to understand and the photos clear to see.  It's a good idea to read the pattern carefully first though, as with it having so many options it would be easy to skip a stage without meaning too.  There were a few times I had to read back over instructions, just to be sure.

Freya likes the dress.  She's obsessed at the moment with being a ballet dancer.  As I mentioned last post she has a particular focus on Emma Wiggles at the moment and through that learnt some "ballet moves".  Here's her "Brava"

And as she yells her "position"!