Teal With It — A Plus Size Emery Dress

It’s Saturday. I know, I checked, it’s actually Saturday!

Hope you’re all doing well guys? I’m having… A ‘Time’ at the moment. And we’ll get on to that later. But first, I gon made a thing! It’s a mock-up, technically, but still pretty cute, so I’m showing off my plus size Emery dress!

Now, before we get into the dress itself, I’d like to mention something. These photos caused me some crazy body dysmorphia. I’ve gained weight since lockdown (I mean, who hasn’t?) and I’ve not noticed it until this point. The logical side of me understands that it’s normal since I’m not out and about as much, and eating more than usual. However the non-logical side of me has kinda gone insane in self-hate. I even ended up cutting a lot of my hair off a few nights later, it got me so bad. The joys of mental health in lockdown, right?

But regardless of depression and body-hate, I did actually make something, which is great! After my attempt at an Emery dress failed a few weeks ago and made a lovely Tanuki Skirt, I decided to go back and give it another go. The plan was to start straight on some fabric I bought in Tokyo last I was there, but I really wanted to get a mock-up sorted to get the fitting right beforehand. This fabric is some cotton sheeting I’ve had in my stash for a while now, which I thought would make for a great trial run.

Plus Size Emery Dress

So! I used the well-loved Christine Haynes Emery Dress pattern’s Version A for this dress. My initial attempt was way too small, so my first call was to go for a Full Bust Adjustment to allow more room for boobies. I used Cashmerette for my information on FBAs and honestly, this pattern is super easy to adapt. Pretty much was perfect on the first try with the adjustment, so I was pretty happy!

Of course, the bodice isn’t without it’s issues — you can clearly see it’s a bit gape-y at the neckline from the photo above. I’d possibly also enlarge the bust apex a smidgin on the next one. But that could also be the fabric type of this dress, who knows. The next one from my medium-weight cotton should have a few adjustments coming for it, that’s for sure.

Other than the FBA, I decided to change the sleeves to what I consider to be a more ‘flattering’ length to me — which incidentally is shorter than the pattern’s original length. Worked out well enough, but the arms do need to be enlarged a bit. We got some big ol’ bingo wings to keep under wraps here, folks!

And of course, no plus size sewing project of mine is complete without a pleated skirt and — you guessed it — POCKETS! Simple in-seam pockets for this dress to keep to the original pattern a bit. Although the knife-pleated dirndl skirt was so much easier and fuller for me!

And that’s my first mock-up for a plus size Emery dress! Have you tried this pattern before?

Let me know in the comments what you think, and take care, friends!