September Challenge: All About That Polka

Dots, that is. As promised, here’s Lady Skater #2! Better late than never, right?

The Basics: 

Pattern: Lady Skater with cap sleeves

Fabric: 2 yds of B&W polka dot ponte de roma from Girl Charlee

Alterations: Added 1″ length to bodice and 3″ length to skirt.

Notions: Elastic.

Make it again?: Yup. I’ve got a Skater/Renfrew hack next up on my sewing list!

Favorite parts: Same as last time. Comfort, quick finish, twirl-friendly skirt, flattering bodice.

Other thoughts: As expected, my navy Lady Skater has been a regular since I made it a few weeks ago. This polka dot fabric seemed perfect for LS #2!

Unfortunately, I had a few issues with this one. The main issue I had was that somehow I couldn’t eek out enough fabric to cut the neckband on the fold. At least, not on the stretchy cross-grain, which is what it’s supposed to be cut on. Okay, no big deal, just add a teeny bit extra on the pattern piece, cut 2, and combine. Simple, right? Well, I stretched out the band far too much as I sewed it to the bodice, resulting in the ugliest neckline ever. So I seam-ripped, and repeated. The second neckband was better, but kind of droopy. I think I cut it a bit too long.

I also had pattern placement issues for the 3/4 length sleeve that I originally wanted, probably because I added length to both the bodice and the skirt. I also had 3 yards of fabric to work with on my navy dress, but only 2 for this one. I don’t actually mind the cap sleeve on this dress, since it gives me something a little different from the navy skater.

My last mistake was totally self-inflicted derpiness. I was about 6″ short on the amount of clear elastic I needed to finish the front bodice, buuuuuut I didn’t realize it until after I attached clear elastic to the back bodice. Derp. I used some leftover regular 3/8″ elastic to stabilize the bodice. Works fine, but the waist is a tiny bit wonky with the different amounts of elasticity.

Sewing up this baby was a breeze, even with seam ripping. I started around 7pm on a Monday evening and finished hemming around 9:30pm. Not bad for a single night!

I really like how easy it is to style this dress. I have so many colored cardigans, leggings, and tights in my closet that I can use to add a little something extra, though I really need some more colored belts. I’m thinking a bright red belt is a must.

Next up is my Renfrew/Lady Skater hack. I found some gorgeous magenta ponte de roma from Girl Charlee, so I’m hoping to get to that sometime in the next week or so for October’s Frocktober theme. Probably a cowl neck with full length sleeves.

Have you made a Lady Skater hack? How did it turn out?