Dressmaking class - Rooibos Part 2

I have now had another few dressmaking classes so I though I would do a quick progress up date. After what seemed like a lifetime of tracing pattern pieces I finally started sewing a couple of weeks ago. I traced each of the pattern pieces on to Swedish tracing paper so I could sew it together to make a toile in order to check if the fit around the bust was suitable. I have to be honest and say I have no idea what Swedish tracing paper should look like bit I am a little suspicious of this stuff. I bought it off of eBay and the seller clearly stated that is what it is but it looks not like a very lightweight sew in interfacing to me. Having said that it is nice and stable and seems to have done a good job so far (plus it was really cheap). 

I cut the pattern in a size 10 and it seems to be quite a good fit. I am still in the process of fine tuning my dressmakers model so in the photo above it is just not quite the right fit. Since then I have adorned my model with a more true to life bust aka. an old bra and not the fit looks much better. I also spend an evening in my flat with it on and I was fairly happy with it.

Source - Thread Square, Dizzy Boogie 

When searching for idea for my Rooibos I found this dress by Thread Square on Pinterest and knew I wanted to create something similar. After searching for a couple of weeks I found a lovely 100% British wool in Edinburgh Fabrics to use as the main shell fabric. It is fairly lightweight for wool and has a nice drape.  The fabric I chose for the facing is a whole other story which I will go into next time.

This is the stage that I got to in my last class. I am using a lovely I have made a slight change to the pattern. When I sewed up my toile I thought that the back darts looked really severe and didn't create a very smooth shape. So after consulting with the class leader I decided to create a two small gathered sections to replace the darts. I think they look quite good now that the midriff section is attached.

Above is the bodice shell on my reworked model I think it looks a lot better with the undergarments.

I am holding most of my thoughts on the class until it is finished but what I will say is that 2 hours is not enough time to do anything and after 3 weeks of classes I don't feel like much progress has been made. Fortunately it is half term just now and so we have had a week off and I have managed to make a bit more progress over the weekend... stay tuned for more Rooibos action.