Another Latona dress, this time for me!

by - 20:07



When I made my daughter her Latona dress I got an overwhelming response and had many messages asking if I could make it in adult's sizing. I loved the idea of making the dress bigger, but there were challenges, not least being it wasn't my design!



So I sent Steph at the Eli Monster a message asking if there would be any chance of the Latona pattern being released for adults.



And so, after months of behind the scenes work from Steph, the time came to test out the pattern and as I helped out with the child version, I was also asked to help out with the adult version. You can find the newly released pattern here.



I honestly thought this was a fabulous idea, and that it would be easy.

How wrong was I?! Not only are grown up girls lumpy and curvy, but me especially, I'm awkward. I am taller than average, and seemingly have a long body, small boobs and no waist. Oh, and then there was the little problem of having my photo taken, which I had conveniently forgotten that I hate.



I won't go too much into the details, but it took me two weeks of working most evenings, and asking questions on various online groups to help get the bodice to fit me. But I got there in the end (mostly). I had to use my high bust measurement instead of my full bust measurement to get the bodice to properly fit me across the neck, shoulders and back. But this then caused lots of wrinkling under the bust, which it turned out was because I needed a full bust adjustment. For anyone that knows me, this is the most laughable thing in the world as my bust has never been called full, ever! BUT, doing the adjustment stopped all the pulling and still allowed me to use the smaller bodice size! I also graded the waist out to 3 sizes bigger because, like I mentioned above, I have no waist.



I added length (and a bit more fullness) to the skirt to accommodate my extra height.



The result is an almost perfectly fitted dress to me. It even has pockets! My daughter is over the moon that I now have the same dress as her.



I borrowed my friends pettiskirt to go under the dress for photos. I admit, I quite like the swishy feeling, and as I rarely wear dresses, it felt quite refreshing to be dressed up for no particular reason other than to match my daughter.



I used a fabric that I bought over a year ago from an independent seller online. It was sold to me as vintage Liberty, in a cotton and viscose blend. I have no idea if it really is Liberty, it certainly didn't say it was on the selvedge, but it's very pretty, and I had enough of it to make this dress. I have some left over which I may use for a top or tunic for Layla.



Unlike the child's pattern, this adult dress has an invisible side zip and the buttons on the back are faux. I blind hem stitched the centre back button piece down to each side back piece. The buttonholes are real, but I didn't open them, simply sewed the buttons on top.



For the skirt, I still used two width of fabric pieces, but my fabric was 142cm wide (56") instead of the normal 112cm width (44"). This gave it a much fuller look and required gathering it tightly to fit the bodice pieces.



One final adjustment I made to the dress which you can't see from the outside is adding a strip of homemade bias to bind the centre back waist seam. Where the centre panel attaches to the skirt, an exposed section of seam allowance is visible. I overlocked it, but I still wasn't happy, so I bound the edge to leave a clean section between the bodice pieces. I was much happier with this result as it fulfilled my need for a clean look to both the inside, and outside of a garment!



And finally, this little picture. My husband was the photographer for this shoot, and he caught this picture right before my daughter had enough and wanted to go and play in the park.



This pattern and most others are currently on sale over on the Eli Monster website. The adult Latona and the child Latona pattern are both on offer at just $5 for this week.

I would love to know your thoughts on the dress. Let me know in the comments!

*Disclaimer: Some of the links in the post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission (the price stays the same for you) which will help me in the future to buy more patterns to share them with you!*

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2 comments

  1. so beautiful ... you and your daughter look nice in the dress.
    www.stokstaartjedoethezo.com

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  2. So beautiful!! Great fit!!

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