April dress (Butterick 2535) finished

It's a little late (which I'm putting down to scrubs-making), but I have finished my April dress for the Vintage Sew A Dress A Month, and I'm really pleased with the end result. The pattern envelope describes it as a "casual frock . . . so wearable for innumerable occasions", and I'm inclined to agree. It would be just as suitable for nipping out to the shops as for afternoon tea with friends - when we're able to do all these things again.

Better late than never

I forgot to mention last week that when I laid the fabric out to cut it, I discovered that there was a hole in it - it's an occupational hazard of using remnants. Because the print is so dense it was easy to miss, especially when the fabric was folded double. I was worried that I would somehow forget about it when I was cutting out, so I made it noticable by tacking an obvious patch over it.

There was no missing this

The hole meant that I had to go for the short-sleeved version of the pattern. However, the fabric is a Liberty Tana Lawn, so lent itself to a more obviously summer dress anyway.

And the answer to last week's button dilemma? When I tried the bodice on, it was obvious that it needed a contrast button; otherwise it was just a flowery mass. So green it was. Thank you Lynn, I shall refer all my button queries to you in future!

I was so pleased to find these vintage green buttons in my stash

In order to get the dress done, I used ready-made shoulder pads. The pattern does include instructions for making your own, and I may well do this at some point. One thing which I really noticed was how much the bodice fit was improved by wearing one of my What Katie Did bras underneath it, rather than a modern bra. I shouldn't really be surprised that something made from a true vintage pattern fits better over a vintage silhouette, but as I often use vintage rather than reproduction patterns, it's worth remembering.

Along the same lines, if I want to dress things up for a proper vintage look, the colour scheme of the print goes with lots of my coloured-seam stockings; pink, purple, green and claret to be precise, as well as black and neutral. On top of that, the dress is a perfect match for this fabulous cardigan, knitted from a vintage pattern, which I commissioned from the very wonderful Crafty Elsie. Knitwear which actually fits me, yay (and it has amazing buttons, too)!

Made for each other

Making this dress has removed another three metres of fabric from the stash - although obviously the arrival of 18 metres of scrubs fabric has ruined my progress on that front!

A big fat zero

Finally, this was the first of my #UseNine2020 fabrics. Vogue 7422 and the striped seersucker are lined up for my May dress, but first I have some more scrubs to make.

One down, eight to go