The Acton Dress by In the Folds has an interesting design that appealed to me straight away. There are two versions, but the bodice and skirt can be interchanged to make four different possibilities. I initially decided to make View B as I liked the unique wrap-effect skirt that can be tied at the front or back.
 |
| The Acton Dress - In the Folds |
I chose this bold striped cotton that I bought at a recent Morrison sale. I did a full bust adjustment (FBA) on the bodice according to this helpful tutorial on the In the Folds blog.
For the bodice I decided to place the side panel stripes vertically to avoid very obvious misaligned stripes from the front to the side. Initially I placed black stripes next to the front panel, but decided it looked weird, so recut the pieces to place white stripes next to the front panel. This also looked odd, so I took it apart and added black piping at the seamlines. At this point I began to regret the use of such bold stripes on a garment with many pieces!
When I was finally satisfied with the bodice I began the skirt. I then had another crisis when I tried on the unhemmed dress. I tied the skirt to the front and I tied it to the back. I did it again. Many times! I just wasn't sure that I liked it. The stripes on the fabric meant that there were too many lines for the lovely style lines of the dress to shine through. I decided to ask the wise sewing community on Instagram and posted the following picture:
 |
I am in the middle of a sewing dilemma! I'm making the Acton dress, view B with the skirt side flaps, but I'm halfway through (no hem, no lining) and having a crisis about the flaps. I think the flaps tied in front might be too busy with the stripes. I like the look of the flaps tied at the back, but only from the front! Should I lose the flaps altogether? Help! |
The overwhelming response was to tie the flaps at the back or remove them altogether, with one (ex) friend suggesting that it looked like a boat cushion refashion!! I decided to soldier on and finish the dress, then make my decision. The main reason for dilly dallying was that cutting off the flaps would have meant mismatching stripes at the new side seams and I couldn't bear that.
Well you've no doubt noticed by now that the skirt does not have side flaps or ties. After many hours spent in front of the mirror, it suddenly dawned on me that if I cut off the flaps and moved the side seam very slightly around, the stripes might actually match. Hurrah! This was fiddly, but I had already embraced the fiddle that was this dress in these stripes, so I pushed on. It worked!
I like it much better now!
The racer back is cool and flattering, although I need to lower those bra straps a bit!
The side stripes match almost perfectly and I even added pockets. Well why not? Of course I did the pockets twice as the first time the stripes didn't match the skirt stripes and looked terrible!
But I got there in the end and now have a bold and (hopefully) beautiful dress to wear in the last days of summer. I'll just take care not to go on any boats!
I should mention that all these tribulations were the fault of me choosing bold fabric and then being fussy about the outcome. This is a lovely pattern and I highly recommend it.
