Étage Dress

  I bought the Étage pattern from Sew Straight and Gather some time ago on a black Friday sale... I think in 2014! So in the interest of reducing the number of un-sewn patterns I own, I made it up for Gaiw.

  I used some black cotton spandex knit from Nick of Time Textiles, a rose-print rayon jersey knit from Girl Charlee (also used here), and some white cotton spandex from Girl Charlee for the interior.

  While Gaiw loves her new dress and I think it's pretty cute, I can't say I'm particularly pleased with the pattern. Firstly, there are a lot of pieces to print, and some of them feel pretty redundant.

  For example, the back and front outer bodice are identical except for the neckline, but are printed as two separate pattern pieces, and the same is true of the bodice lining pieces. The main hog is those tiers, but again, a slight pattern change (swapping the a-line interior for a simpler rectangle) would eliminate several pattern pieces. It's not a huge deal, and I understand why the pieces are the way they are, but I don't love it.

  Also, very few of those pieces are trued and the armscye is excessively tall and shallow... there is less than 2" of width there!

  I would like it better if the pattern matched the illustration too, with the longest point of the bodice over-layer hitting at the side seam, instead of slightly to the front and back.

  The pieces fit together well though, and for the most part the instructions were decent. There are some inconsistencies in things like hemming methods though... one of which would result in a hem 2cm longer than another one.

The fit seems pretty true-to size- I chose a size using Gaiw's chest measurement, then based on the finished measurements I added some length to the bottom tier only (I wish I'd spread the additional length through all of the pieces for a more balanced look) and it hits where I expected.

 I lettuce-edged the sleeves:

  And all of the other hems!

  I'd raise the neckline in the front, but that's just my preference.

  I really like the idea of this dress, and the end result is pretty cute, but I don't think I'd make it again without some changes.

  I noticed that it's not available in the Sew Straight and Gather shop at the moment though, so maybe it's being updated? I hope so! =)

  Thanks for stopping by,