Love Notions Cadence - Sleeveless Dress

I have owned this sewing pattern for 5.5 years and I finally decided to try it.

Since I have made so many garments with knit fabric - surprise! - I found that I have only one woven fabric that might be suitable for this garment.

But first I had to make a test garment to see if this pattern might work. I had to go out to buy a woven fabric. I went to my local Hobby Lobby and found a summery floral.

I traced the pattern in my size, as usual. I laid the front pattern piece over my body and decided that I needed to lower the bust dart one inch. I did that and cut out the floral fabric.

I sewed it up using all my machines (sewing machine, serger, and coverstitch machine). Here are pictures of the first garment.

Whoah, now. That last picture shows the fabric bunching at my back waist. That means I needed to do a swayback adjustment. Luckily, my friend Sherril showed me something I had seen, not tried, and forgotten.

Oh, goodness. My husband took one look at the last picture and said, "You don't have a swayback. It's just that your belly is pulling all that fabric to the front."

He may be right, but this seems to work for me now. The proof is in the next version of this pattern. I used a thin knit with almost no stretch - which just happened to be in my stash.

Oh, another surprise. I needn't have lowered the bust dart, so I moved it almost all the way back to where it started.

So I guess the next step will be to make up this pattern in the GOOD fabric.

I hope to report back within the next year!