My Birthday Anna dress

***UPDATE: from now on, you can read my posts in Italian by clicking on the Italian flag in the top right sidebar. Thanks Pauline for helping me with this!***

Pattern: Anna dress by By Hand London

Size: size US8 for shoulders and bust, graded to a size US10 at the waist.

Alterations: I didn't use the 7-panel skirt of the pattern and opted for a very gathered skirt with in-seam pockets (I used the pattern piece from the Emery dress).

Fabric: A luxurious designer wool from my stash.

Back in November, when I made my first Anna dress, I told you that I fell in love with this pattern and that for sure there was going to be a second one. Well, here it is, probably one of my makes I'm most satisfied with!

This is my revenge on print placement after my Emery dress débacle, and I couldn't be happier with the result.

This gorgeous designer wool (although don't ask me what designer) was actually on of the first fabrics I've ever bought, which means it has been in my stash for about 8 years.
I remember buying it from this fantastic fabric store in my town (now closed, sadly) that carried almost exclusively designer fabrics. They used to always display remnants hanging on a clothes rack just outside the store, and even though I could hardly sew a straight line, I would always stop and look at them all. I guess fabric addiction is something I was born with XD

Anyways, this repeating print always intimidated me and I'm glad I waited all this time to use it, because it was so worth it!

Once I decided out I wanted to use it for an Anna dress, I figured I definitely wanted the roses to frame the neckline and have the plaid section in the middle of the dress. Once I placed the pattern pieces of the bodice on the fabric, it was quite easy to figure out the rest.

Just like last time, I went for a gathered skirt; this time it's even fuller, I used two panels in the whole width of the fabric. It's not the most flattering solution for my already full hips, but this fabric has such a lovely drape that makes the skirt so dreamy!
I used bias tape on the inside of the waist seam to eliminate some bulk, though, and I took pictures, yay! A tutorial is coming later on this week :D

I photographed this dress on my birthday, two weeks ago, and since I felt festive, I took out my cat ear headband (from ASOS) that I love so much but never have the courage to wear... I mean, if taking photos of a beautiful dress on your birthday is not the perfect occasion, I don't know what is XD

***D'ora in poi, potete cambiare la lingua di un post cliccando sulle bandierine nella barra laterale, a destra in alto. Grazie Pauline per l'aiuto!***

Modello: Abito Anna di By Hand London

Taglia: taglia US8 per spalle e petto, aumentata a US10 in vita.

Modifiche: non ho usato la gonna a 7 pannelli del modello e l'ho sostituita con una gonna molto arricciata con tasche nella cucitura (ho usato quelle dell'abito Emery).

Tessuto: una sontuosa lana dalla mia collezione.

A novembre, quando ho fatto il mio primo abito Anna, vi avevo detto che mi ero innamorata del modello che ce ne sarebbe stato sicuramente un secondo. Beh, eccolo qui! Probabilmente una delle creazioni di cui sono più soddisfatta!
Questa è un po' la mia rivincita dopo il disastroso piazzamento della stampa dell'abito Emery fatto a dicembre, e sono felicissima del risultato!

Questa meravigliosa lana designer (anche se non chiedetemi di QUALE designer) è stato forse il primo scampolo che io abbia mai comprato, il che significa che è rimasto nella mia collezione per qualcosa come 8 anni.
Ricordo di averlo comprato da questo negozio bellissimo del mio paese che vendeva (purtroppo ha chiuso) quasi solo tessuti firmati. Fuori dal negozio avevano in esposizione scampoli e rimanenze e, anche se all'epoca sapevo si e no fare una cucitura dritta, mi fermavo sempre a guardare queste stoffe e a sognare ad occhi aperti. Con la dipendenza da stoffa si nasce, mi sa XD 

Ad ogni modo, questa stampa ripetuta così particolare mi ha sempre intimidito e sono contenta di aver aspettato ad usarla, ne è decisamente valsa la pena!
Una volta deciso di volerla usare con il modello Anna, ho deciso che volevo le rose ad incorniciare lo scollo e la parte con il plaid nella sezione mediana. Una volta messi i pezzi del modello del corpino sulla stoffa, è stato semplice far quadrare il tutto.

Come l'altra volta, ho optato per una gonna arricciata, stavolta ancora più grande, poichè ho usato due rettangoli in tutta la larghezza del tessuto. Forse non è la soluzione migliore per i miei fianchi larghi, ma questa stoffa cade così bene che non ho saputo resistere a una gonna ultra femminile!
Ho utilizzato dello sbieco all'interno della cucitura in vita per eliminare un po' di eccesso di stoffa e ho fatto delle foto nel processo, per cui pubblicherò un tutorial prossimamente. :D

Ho fotografato quest'abito il giorno del mio compleanno, due settimane fa, e visto che ero in umore di festa, ho tirato fuori il mio adorato cerchietto con orecchie di gatto (di ASOS) che non ho mai il coraggio di mettere... Insomma, se fare le foto a un bel vestito il giorno del mio compleanno non è l'occasione giusta per indossarle, allora non so quando! XD

Happy Anna in a Anna dress

Pattern: Anna dress by By Hand London

Size: size US8 for shoulders and bust, graded to a size US10 at the waist.

Alterations: I didn't use the 7-panel skirt of the pattern and opted for a gathered skirt with in-seam pockets.

Fabric: locally purchased viscose

WHOA. Two weeks without blogging. That hadn't happened in a while. I find it a bit silly to apologize since this is not a job for me and I'm sure you have plenty of other sources of entertainment, but still, I hope you missed me a little bit, because I was sure starting to miss my little space here.

Anyway, I'm back with a very, very happy dress!
I finally got around to make the Anna dress by By Hand London (which means that no, Sallie, you weren't the last one in the blogosphere!). Just like the name we share, this dress is very understated and lady-like. And just like my name, I wasn't completely in love with it at first glance. It was very beautiful, but was it a good match for me?

It took a few years of my life to accept the name my parents had chosen for me (I was actually supposed to be named Caterina, they tell me) and it took me a few posts from loving bloggers (especially from Roisin, no surprise there) to really fall in love with this dress.

And now I want a hundred versions of it! But let's speak of the one I've already made...
First of all, I had a bit of a freak-out when I traced this pattern. Marie came to my help on Twitter (thank you!) and I quickly realized I was seeing things... I blame it on the thin paper this pattern is printed on, which is the only thing I dislike about the otherwise gorgeous By Hand London packaging.

The first muslin I made was a practically perfect fit, I didn't even had the gaping at the back neckline that most people who blogged about this pattern seemed to have. If I'll ever make a V-neck version, I'll probably have to go back and make a FBA on a smaller size to avoid a gaping front neckline, but for the high neckline, it was perfect.

Then, I probably started seeing things again while cutting the fabric, because when I finished stitching the bodice and tried it on, I realized I had about an extra 10cm to remove. I seriously could not believe my eyes. I tried the muslin on again and it was still perfect, so I have no idea what happened. The fabric I used for the muslin is a teeny bit heavier than this viscose, but not so much as to justify a 10cm difference.

Maybe the fabric is haunted? I bought it at a fair and the guy who sold it to me told me it was salvaged from a warehouse destroyed by a flood. Jeez. But it was sooo inexpensive, and drapey, and the print was gorgeous... Maybe it came with a price? Just kidding. I hope.
Anyway, since I had French-seamed the sides, I ended up taking all the excess from the back seam. Not the proper way to go, but it worked, and with the dark fabric you don't really notice that the back darts are too close to the zipper. There's some gaping left at the neckline, but I'll live with that.

Anyway, I'm really in love with this pattern now, and not only can't I wait to make more Annas, I also really want to try the gorgeous Elisalex dress.

In conclusion, after mentioning my own name so many time in this post, I urge you to pleeeease click here and listen to the Italian pronunciation of the name "Anna" (unless you're German, then it's practically the same), just for the sake of it. It always makes me smile how differently it's pronounced in French- and English-speaking countries, so different from what I'm used to :)