All Things Katy!: Canadian Blog Tour- Audrey and Tiffany Secret Garden Dress

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Thursday, June 11, 2015

Canadian Blog Tour- Audrey and Tiffany Secret Garden Dress

Posted by Heather at Thursday, June 11, 2015

Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress- Front

Hello, lovely readers and guests! I was honored to take part in the Canadian Blog Tour- a blog tour highlighting and spotlighting PDF sewing pattern designers from Canada.

I've got a special treat to share with you, today! Presenting, the new-to-me Canadian pdf sewing pattern designer, Audrey and Tiffany, The Secret Garden Dress!! This gorgeous dress is a show stopper with lots of wow factor in the pretty back flounces.

Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress- Front

Let's talk pattern details, first;

-The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress is written for sizes 2-10.
-The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress has one file for the pattern pieces and a separate file for the tutorial.

-The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress has two options- with or without flounce.

- A sizing, materials and pattern piece assembly diagram are all included in the The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress tutorial.

-The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress features a slight boatneck neckline with deep v back bodice.

-The Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress has an invisible zipper closure.

I sewed up a size 6 The Secret Garden Dress with flounces. The pretty flounces in the back reminded me of butterfly wings, so I decided to go with this glittery, purple butterfly print (and coordinates) from Fabric Traditions. So fun! (Word to the wise, do not- I repeat, do NOT- wash said fabric with black dress pants. The result is oh, so pretty.... er, well, pretty if you're a five year old girl... Not so much fun for a grown man in a corporate setting. Sorry about that, Honey!! ;)

Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress- Back

Fit-wise, I really liked the length of this dress. It hit just below the knees and was juuust right. Per the sizing chart, Lil' Miss is a size six with a 24" chest. However, the bodice was a bit loose and did threaten to slip down my daughter's shoulders while photographing. So, next time, I might size down in the width but keep the length.

The Secret Garden Dress tutorial includes color pictures for each step. Tips and drawn lines are included along the way. I did find some of the pictures too zoomed in (with no sense of relationship to the rest of the dress) and thus, somewhat confusing. Because there was very little contrast to lining/main/underskirt in the dress pictured in the tutorial, it was sometimes hard to figure out which piece was what and went where. I do wish that I had been told to cut the main skirt piece 1 1/2" shorter at the BEGINNING (when I was cutting out all of my pieces), rather than halfway through the tutorial. For the sake of conserving paper and ink, I do appreciate the fact that there are only 15 pattern piece pages.

The front profile is classic and clean. However, the back, the back, the back...my, oh, my... The Secret Garden Dress wins with the pretty back flounces!! The directions to sew up the flounces do help walk the sewer through what appears to be a difficult and intricate back detail (it is not difficult- but we can let everybody think that it is... it'll be our little secret. ;-P)

Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress- Back Detail

Can I let you in on another little secret? I've never sewn an invisible zipper, before. I've done lots of regular zippers, but this was my first time installing an invisible one. Guess what?! It's not that hard! Just attach that zipper foot and get as close as you can to the zipper teeth (without sewing OVER the teeth) and you are good to go. The zipper directions in the The Secret Garden Dress were definitely helpful.

Audrey and Tiffany- The Secret Garden Dress- Invisible Zipper Detail

Overall, this was a fun dress to sew up! Lil' Miss found it perfectly twirly and I really enjoyed learning a new skill (invisible zipper). Love, love, love the back!! So pretty! I believe even a confident beginner could easily tackle this dress with a beautiful outcome! Thanks so much for allowing me to be apart of the Canadian Blog Tour!!