Navy and kelly, paired on a Lola

The Lola dress from Victory Patterns is such a cute, fun pattern! I love this dress. How it looks AND how comfy it is to wear.

It sewed up fast and easy even though my serger and I are having a big disagreement right now. I don’t know what the heck is up with my serger but I can’t stand to look at it right now so I just sewed the whole thing with a slight zig zag on my Bernina. I figure I can go back and finish the seams when I have the patience and skill to get the serger working again.

I picked up this blue sweatshirt fleece at Value Village for about 6 or 7 bucks! The green ribbing came from Joann’s. It doesn’t have much recovery, but it is exactly the right shade of kelly green.

Changes- I cut out a size 4, but the 4 was so so tight in the arms and armpits that I had to recut a bigger size in the sleeve. I really should have known such a small size wouldn’t fit my shoulders! I also lengthened the bodice ¾ inches. I added 5 inches to the bottom because I am 5’9” and I don’t wear short skirts and I didn’t add the hem band. But after all that, I took it back up 2 inches. I might have been a little over zealous.

What I really want to discuss is the neckline! I don’t know why I haven’t seen any other bloggers mention the discrepancy in neckline between the line drawing and model and the final dress. It appeared to me from the pattern (both front IRL pics and back tech drawings) that the neckline would be a wider sweatshirt style. But mine was much more crew neck than I imagined. Of course I immediately assumed I did it wrong. But I looked again at many of my favorite Lola’s blogged by others and they all have a round neckline, too.

So I wonder why this has not bothered/been mentioned by anyone else? Is it because I put the green band to emphasize that I noticed? It certainly is a great pattern and the neckline is not the standout feature, so maybe no one thought it was vital to mention.

So I had to rip off my original neck band and recut the neckline into a more boat-like shape. I just hacked away at it, so it is a little weird, but I do like it more than the original (which I didn’t take a picture of, sorry).

Wins

• I adore this color combo: navy/kelly green
• So comfy I feel guilty wearing it in public
• Quick to make, even with neckline issue it took only 3 hours
• Fits nicer than any sweatshirt I’ve ever owned!

Losses

• Had to rip out neckband to recut neckline — it  looked very stewardess with the round neckline
• Should have pulled the neck band tighter
• The green on my pockets don’t line up perfectly because I forgot that I had moved my needle to sew the first one down, then moved it back for the second. Made it about a quarter inch off. Enough to notice, especially in this picture.