A Stitching Odyssey: Dakota Sewalong - My Finished Dress Revealed!

Boy, oh boy, does this feel like my most drawn out project to date! When Rachel and I first dreamt up the Dakota Sewalong, my plan was to have my dress and all my sewalong posts done and dusted before moving house. Of course life never works out that neatly, so it took me forever to make this dress and...well...I ended  up sewing along!

That's not to say that I'm not delighted with the result though. I attribute this in equal parts to Named's beautiful pattern and the luxurious Prada crepe generously gifted to me by Minerva Crafts.

I won't go into construction details as the sewalong has covered every imaginable aspect, but I will share some additional bits and bobs.

My favourite things about the Dakota Dress pattern: Details like the side pockets, interesting hemline and shawl collar. The fact that it can be customised in so many ways.

What I would change: I'd take a leaf out of Rachel's book and draft a wider collar. Not only would this make it into more of a feature (think nice and nautical), it would also probably help it to lie better.

The truth about my sleeve plackets: Because I was using slippery and medium-weight crepe, I found it impossible to make 'proper' plackets like in Rachel's tutorial, so instead I went for easier plackets that I learned during the making of my Armistice Blouse.

Although the pockets probably aren't in the most flattering placement for girls with hips and/or muffin tops, I do love them so! You could of course forgo them altogether or move them from the side to the front if you wanted to.

Staying true to my inspiration post, I've paired it with my clever leopard spot blouse from M&S. I totally stand by my original idea as I think the combination looks totally kickass! However, I do think I'll wear my Dakota with something slightly less 'bulky' underneath in the future, as it doesn't have much ease in it. I also dislike wearing long sleeves on long sleeves...it makes me feel a little 'funny' if I'm honest. Anyone else experience this, or am I the only weirdo here?

So there you have it, my finished Dakota Dress! Hope it was worth the wait!

I also just want to take the chance once again to thank everyone who put an awful lot of effort and talent into making the Dakota Sewalong happen:

• Rachel at House of Pinheiro - my amazing partner in crime!
• Saara & Laura from Named - for their overall support, as well as their shawl collar tutorial and customisation tips.
• Vicki from Minerva Crafts - for generously supplying our fabric and sharing tips on summer and winter fabric options.
• Alana at Lazy Stitching - for her comprehensive tutorials on grading and full bust adjustments.
• Lauren at Lladybird - for her infinite wisdom on sewing with ponte knits.

All the sewalong posts can be found here or on Pinterest and I hope some people will follow along in their own time, or refer to specific posts for future makes.

In the meantime, I'll be sharing some of your finished Dakotas on Friday. There's still time to send me a link to yours - add your photos to the Flickr group, comment below or email me. If you miss out on being featured in Friday's post, do keep those Dakotas coming in because Rachel and I will be doing future roundups too!