After a 24 mile round trip I have a red invisible zip, and now a completed dress! I am also definitely ordering a stock of zips from Jaycotts. I paid £3.90 for a 52cm long invisible zip! That’s madness!! Anyway, rant over, here’s the completed dress, and a happy Daughter No2 in the sunshine to show it off.
The panels work really well, tailoring the bodice to her shape. The stretch cotton has a tendence to, well, stretch. So the lining is a stretch cotton poplin, with much less movement to keep the whole thing together.
The back was kept simple. There is just one seam, I really don’t think it needed any more than that.
For some extra info, this dress was cut from the 2-piece dress block (from Winnifred Aldrich’s Metric Pattern Cutting) and adapted to the sleeveless block.
Next time we’ll have more fabric to play with, and will make a fuller skirt. For now though, Daughter No2 is very happy with her new dress. Will the weather gods please let us have some sun so she can wear it??
THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS 
Ouch on the zip! But your daughter looks amazing in the dress and it came together very fast. I love the turquoise against the red!
Thanks. The contrast works really well, doesn’t it?
Really cute! I love this dress!
Thanks! I am already playing with paper to do another similar
Beautiful daughter, beautiful dress!
thanks!
The dress looks amazing, well done 🙂
Thanks, a stripy bias cut dress in in the works.
It came off very well, and yes, she is smiling.
She’s easy to please!!
can i be one of your (too old to be actually possible but fabulously dressed) daughters?
lol! Of course! Although you do a pretty good job yourself! I loved your Italian dress with the piping.
It’s funny how some items are easily available in some places and difficult to find somewhere else… There is no shortage of zippers where I live, but very often I read about some materials on blogs abroad and can’t even translate what they used… and anyway it’s not available 🙂
The dress turned out very, very pretty, joining Oona wishing you’d me my sewing mum 🙂
Yeah, and it’s also a problem when the age group who do most of the sewing in my little town are (much),much older. They’ve never used concealed (invisible) zips. Thanks for the compliments, I’ll be sure to tell the girls they are very, very lucky to have me! 😀
Simply stunning, too. I’m so impressed that you drafted this yourself. Incredible!
Thank you so much!
Ooo and there’s a stripey bias version in the works? Did I read that right? I love the panels and the simplicity of the shape plus the belt and the colours and, oh the poppies. Pretty girl too – good genes there for sure :o)
PS glad you found a zip, even if it was a rather long way to go for it…
A stripey, bias cut dress, yes, a stripey, bias cut version of this?? No. It would drive me mad with the stripes and the definite inability to line them all up properly!! :s It’s almost finished, watch this space!