Hello Internet friends!

Seems like I’m kinda failing at #MeMadeMay this year, just really not in the mood to take pictures every day ya know? Maybe I’ll switch to taking flat lay pictures of my outfits for a bit and see how that goes for the last little bit of the month along with some selfies sprinkled in here and there? I did, however, manage to get a few good photos of the dress that I made for my birthday last week hence today’s blog post! I used to make it a thing to make something nice for myself for my birthday to wear on the day and hadn’t done it in the last 2 years or so, so I decided to bring back that tradition and make myself a nice dress for my second pandemic birthday 😅

This is the Armidale Dress from Style Arc, a pattern brand I’ve always meant to try out but hadn’t until now. This is the second pattern I’ve tried from them, the first is a really nice blouse that I made last month that will hopefully make an appearance on the blog soon (picture taking mood permitting!) One thing I didn’t know about Style Arc before I bought one of their patterns is that with their standard PDF format you actually choose your size at the the time of purchase and they send you a PDF with one size above and one size below included. They do have multi sized versions as well, but these are at a higher price point. Since the vast majority of the patterns that I buy are PDFs I got really used to always getting all the sizes in one, or at the very least all the sizes from a single sizing block. So it was a bit weird for me to think about if I wanted all the sizes or not…one of the comforts of PDF patterns (at least for me) is that I would always have a digital copy of the pattern ready to print out if I wanted to make a different size. For this particular pattern the multi size is only about $4 CAD more so I went with that version but it is something to consider when buying a Style Arc pattern.

As many other sewists have noted the instructions included with Style Arc Patterns are minimal and there is only one visual diagram to orientate you, so I would definitely recommend this style of pattern for someone who’s sewn a number of garments with facings and collars just to ensure that you have a good time during construction. They’ve rated this as somewhere between a medium and a challenging pattern, which given their level of instruction I would agree with, however if you were an advanced beginner with a sewing friend to help you along the way I think you could probably tackle this pattern.

I did make a quick muslin of the bodice ahead of using my pretty flora fabric (a lovely viscose from Dressew, they now offer shipping within Canada! check them out they are the sewing mothership in Vancouver!) and while I had decided not to make any mods at the time, I do think I probably could have benefited from either a petite adjustment of the neckline or could have taken up the shoulders at the neckline a tad as I ended up switching bras from my ever fave Black Beauty bra to a longline Watson bra as the neckline was just low enough that the Black Beauty bra would show (both bras are featured in this post here). I also wish I had at least held up the skirt pattern against my leg to see where the pockets landed as I find them a bit low…..that being said I do think that with the ‘fit then flare’-ness of this pattern if I had moved the pockets up then you would see them as the hips are more fitted so probably for the best that they are kept where they are…I guess?

In terms of sizing I sewed a straight size 12 with the only mod being removing 4” of length from the skirt (#ShortGirlProblems). Overall I think this dress turned out super! I really like the swishy skirt and I think that the fit is pretty good and flattering! I don’t typically wear ‘midi’ length dresses or skirts as I always think they make me look shorter than I already am…..but I think this one worked out really well! Very 90’s style I think with the florals and fit and flare skirt (although that being said I have this nagging feeling that I look like an elementary school teacher from the 90’s….probably because I had a teacher or two rock a floral button up dress while I was growing up…..I’m going to say they were style inspo for this dress😆)

I think this dress will get a lot of use this summer and it’s making me consider adding more midi length skirts and dresses to my wardrobe (a working from home benefit is that I can wear more dresses since I only need to worry about pants for the days I’m in the lab). Hope you’re all having a great Me Made May out there!