Betty Dress

Hello all, 

I was honoured with the chance to pattern test the new Sew Over It pattern, the Betty dress!

The pattern was inspired by the TV show Mad Men. I’ve never seen the show, and for some reason I’m not interested. I do love seeing stills of the shows to look at the pictures and I love seeing everyone’s outfits inspired by the show, but other than that I’m not interested.

The pattern itself was gorgeous! I made my dress out of a cotton that I bought from fabric.com a while ago (still for sale here). I only bought 3yards but the pattern asked for 3.5m. Because I normally buy fabric here in Australia which is sold in metres and sew patterns that have their yardage in yards I thought I could get away with it…

Turns out no, I ran out of fabric with the skirt pieces, but I cut them first so it was ok. I have heaps of white broadcloth from spotlight lying around at home so my fiancé James suggest I use that instead of a trip to the fabric store. I don’t know if anyone else from Australia has noticed, but the white broadcloth from spotlight is gorgeously soft (for spotlight) but the coloured versions are stiff and don’t soften up in the washing.

I sewed a size 20, which fits well, but looking at the pictures it looks like I should have done a full bust adjustment which I’ve always thought I should need, but never seem to.

I found the instructions to be well written and the little illustrations adorable :-)

I love the way that it finishes the shoulders, which is different to what I’ve tried before. When I need to finish sleeves like these I normally find my Rooibos pattern (by Colette Patterns) and use their method, but the Betty Dress method seems easier to remember in the long run.

I’d love to go to England and spend a day or two at a course with all the guys at Sew Over It, but saving the cost of the flights, accommodation etc by buying the pattern seems like a great idea to buy more fabric!

Thank you Lisa for giving me the opportunity to help :-)