The Boxy Dress

Hef has already told you about her version of the boxy dress here. Well this is my version, technically my post should have been first since I made mine first but, you can’t have everything.

This dress was from a Butterick reproduction pattern 4792. When I first started sewing I purchased it along with a whole bunch of other Butterick reproduction patterns when spotlight was having a half price sale. I liked it because it was retro 50’s, which was the era I was concentrating on, and also really liked the backwards halter of the top. In the drawing it looked like it may be a challenge, but it was also something different, something that made this dress unique to all the other reproduction dresses.

Admittedly this was when I had first started sewing and I didn’t realise the world of actual vintage patterns was waiting for me on etsy, or that there were other patterns out there which would suit me better, but more on that later.

I purchased some awesome orange floral cotton. The orange on it was very vibrant and so I thought it would make a great summer dress. Unfortunately the white of the cotton was not as opaque as I would have liked so I decided to line the dress in white cotton, so as to not have the orange showing through from the self lining the pattern asked for.

To do that I had to slice the bodice pieces which are designed to fold over and line themselves. Although it was a small change it added to the challenge of this dress for a very new sewer and I was amazed when I was able to do it and it all turned out right.

I had seen this dress made up before, and it looked boxy but I thought that was perhaps just how it had turned out that time. Unfortunately it was not just that girl, on my frame it did not hold any shape, and so it was dubbed the box dress. The only shape I could get out of it was if I pulled the belt quite tight, which makes it slightly less boxy but still not the beautiful nipped waist look of the drawing.

I like the skirt part on it. You can lift it all the way up and it looks like bat wings. It is soooo large! (you will see from the photos of me I like to hold my skirt up and show how large they are, hef likens it to a peacock). I think it’s supposed to have less, or at least is supposed to be gathered in specific spots, but I didn’t do that. I gathered all the way round and it seemed to be ok, like I said I was very new to sewing at this point.

I still like it, but the backwards halter top seems to make my shoulders look really prominent and it does not pull in enough for a waist. I mean I don’t have a waist anyway.

When we were doing the photos for this blog I accidently put it around the wrong way and wow it look sooo much better! The boobs were put into the back which was the only issue, that and well I was wearing a dress backwards. I’m tempted to make it that way for good, but to do that I’d have to do something with the boobs. Take a look at the pictures and let me know your thoughts/ideas. Would turning it backwards permanently make it work or do you have other suggestions on how to save this box dress.

Some Patterns feel obligitory

One of the things that has become very apparent since I started working with retro and vintage patterns is that some designs, no matter how flawed, seem to be obligatory to make. For example Butterick 4790 also known as the “walk away dress”, or as we have dubbed it the “deceptively evil dress from hell”, and this one Butterick 4792 or what we call the “boxy dress”.

Not quite as evil as it’s spawn of Satan cousin the walk away dress, the boxy dress has a way of unflattering even the most flattering figures. Perhaps it is just that the fit is hard to get right but in all bar one of its inceptions that I have seen on my troll through sewing blogs and review websites, every case makes it’s wearer look like they have a box sitting on their hips.

This is me in my version, a black and white masterpiece. Originally it was meant to be all in the spots but apparently the skirt requires much more material than I had anticipated – the outcome was using the white material as the top and the spots as the skirt, though I think I like it like this.

On the top of the list about the positives of this pattern is that the gathering of the skirt, which leaves flat sections across the front and back and side seams allows for a very elegant flow, the downside, if you aren’t be anally retentive about reading the pattern directions it is very easy to miss that you are meant to leave these sections ungathered. The pattern also comes with a sew in crinoline type thing but I omitted that not wanting to have to sit on tulle for the benefit of a few centimetres of lift.

On top of the long list of negatives is the top half. Sure it looks in the drawing like it should be a very interesting feature piece, with its awesome reverse halter look. It seems to be flirty, unique and by instructions simple enough for the most basic seamstress to complete with ease. Realistically, here is the picture now available on the butterick site, as you can see even a professional seamstress (as I assume the people who do the outfits for these shots are) can’t manage to get any bust/waist definition in there.

Now Ange made her version first, and she warned me, “it’s very boxy” she said. Now given that I have a hefty 8 inch difference between bust and waist I thought it would be impossible to cause me to lose bust definition, surely that was just crazy talk.

So I set forth and created this pattern, and overall I must say I was pleased with the result. There are few errors (really only one and you can’t see it in the picture anyway – its a puckered gather in the skirt I did not notice until AFTER I had hand stitched the entire lining in place and I was NOT going to unpick for one teensy almost invisible pucker), and the white top, spotty bottom with a red belt I think looks nice and classic – but as the photo proves, I too look boxy in this style.

Having now written this post though I am consumed with an idea, I wonder if it would work better in a stretch fabric? I guess I could always find out after my next Cabramatta excursion... so long as I go before August.

Tune in soon as I will force Ange to write a long expose on the evils lurking behind the “super easy” walk away dress.... that is once she finishes it, yeah a project over 12 mths in the making.