Sewing for Others: Butterick 5595: A Dress for Grandma

I will start by saying I did not make this dress for me.  The shape and style are wrong for me on many levels. However, I think it will suit my grandma well.  Since she and I are pretty much the same size, I was able to model this dress for you:

It is Butterick 5595 from their "See and Sew" collection (aka the always cheap patterns).  I cut a size 14 and extended the length of the shoulder straps to match the size 18.  Based on Grandma's measurements, her bust apex would have been too low compared to the end of the dart on the size 14.  So by extending the shoulders, it drops the point of the dart down lower.  Hopefully my change won't make the armpits too low.  It was fine on me, so I'm hoping for the best.

I made it from a cotton I bought at Hancock Fabrics.  I searched my stash for an Indian fabric, but didn't find anything that would flatter Grandma's coloring.  Just because she is 88 doesn't mean she should fade into the background- right?  The fabric is bright blue with a sparkly silver floral print.  Once I made the pleat, I realized that the pattern looked odd at the seam.  So I decided to add some sparkly buttons to camouflage it.  Besides, Grandma can always use some bling :)

Shiny Buttons to camouflage odd print at front pleat seam

Since the dress is very shapeless flowy, I also made a belt from the same fabric in case Grandma wants to show off her figure a bit more.

Belted

 Pockets will be good when she goes out to walk the dog!

Pockets

While making this, I had a serious DOH (hand smacking forehead) moment.  Instead of sewing the front shoulder strap to the back shoulder strap, I sewed the two fronts together and the 2 backs together.  I was holding it up and wondering "Why does this look so weird?"  Then "DOH!"  Oh well, no permanent damage and it was good for a laugh!

The first big oops in a while 

I need to go mail this off to her.  If we're lucky she'll send me a photo of her wearing it.  I hope she'll like it!