Bettine dress No. 2!

Well I knew as soon as I had made my first Bettine dress by Tilly and the Buttons that it would not be long before I made my second as I loved it so much. You can see and read about my first Bettine here. Not only is it a lot easier to make a second version of a pattern soon after the first, I just couldn’t wait as I needed a second version to wear whilst the first was in the wash! And when I said need, I meant need!

I am not going to go into a lot of detail about the dress itself as I did this on my previous post so will just include some specific details and differences and of course some all important piccies!

The fabric is a red polyester/viscose (60% polyester/40% viscose, 140cm wide) with little pink and blue flowers from Guthrie and Ghani. It is currently still in stock there and I also saw a roll in Barry’s fabrics in Birmingham at the weekend.

It has a lovely drape to it and I chose it specifically for this dress. Due to the elasticated waist I think you do need something with a good drape otherwise it might look a bit stiff and not fall too well at the waistline.

I decided to cut a size 3 top and size 4 bottom. For my stretch version I cut a size 3 throughout. However I felt the skirt section was ever so slightly on the snug size so elected to size up this time! I stuck to the same adjustments for my height by lengthening the bodice section by 1″ and the skirt by 1.5″.

I included the pockets on this version and I love them! Such a pretty shape as well as being useful of course!!

I didn’t include the tabs at the sleeve cuffs this time, just kept it simple.

The only variation from the pattern instructions was around the neckline. The instructions advise you to topstitch the facing to the bodice. I wasn’t sure about doing this as wasn’t too sure how it would look with this material. I think if it was done perfectly you wouldn’t really notice it but thought it was a bit risky to have any bunching/uneven lie of the fabric in this area. I therefore opted for my favourite sewing technique and under stitched the facing to the seam allowance. I then stitched in the ditch along the shoulder seam to secure the facing down.

I also shaped the skirt sides after the dress was constructed to reduce the tulip effect of the design. It did accentuate my hips a bit more on this version which is never a good thing for me so skimmed some off until I was happy with the look.

Towards the end of taking the photos I was just mucking about and doing a bit of a ‘posey’ one looking wistfully over the bridge! Well that’s what I was trying to do anyway! It turns out that this is the best shot of the dress from behind so thought I’d include it but it’s a bit cheesy for my liking!! Not overly comfortable with the whole photo posing for the blog but gotta be done unless you want all of them on a mannequin!

A couple of final ones for me to remember the beautiful Autumnal scene….!

And that is that, lovely and straightforward! Yippee!

Having photographed the majority of my makes for my blog so far in front of my curtains, I decided to make the most of the Autumnal colours at the moment and venture outside. I am really chuffed with the pictures, although this time the best ones seems to be the ones that didn’t have my face in them!! Ha ha! It does take a bit more planning and time to find the right weather/backdrop for shots but I was getting a bit bored with the same background so think i’ll try and get some more outside shots in the future. If anyone has any top tips for taking photos for blogs then all would be gratefully received!

Until next time!

Lorna x