Sewing is not a mindless activity for me by any means, in fact, every step of the process requires careful focus. Even tracing the pattern. I say this because that very fact makes it incredibly difficult to find the time to sit down and sew, it’s so rare that I have a moment of zero distraction let alone several (which is probably the reason I’ve been cranking out knits that are on the simpler side of life, they’re so easy to pick up and put down again!). So when I tell you I took on the Emery Dress again, I’m really telling you that I recognized that the pattern was hard the first time I worked it and was determined not to be beaten by it again.

The first time I worked the Emery Dress, I had help from Mary Margaret of Notion Fabrics. Between thoughtful tutorials and Mary Margaret’s weekly zoom meetings, everything was aligned to set me up for success. It’s not that the pattern instructions were poor or that the dress itself was particularly difficult, it was that my skills set did not include modifing the pattern to fit my body and the process of classic dress making seemed cumbersome. When I trimmed my final thred, I swore that I would never again make another.

Fast forward a year later and I found myself staring at fabric that screamed to be turned into an Emery dress. Though I had purchased the fabric for a different intention, I found myself grateful that I hadn’t given away my Emery pattern and ready to take on the challenge of modifying the fit.

Since I knew going into this dress that the back bodice pieces created a large pocket, I spent a lot of time trying out different depth adjustments to the existing darts and rewatching dart construction videos. In the end, I needed to take in about an inch of fabric across both pieces.

All in all, I’m happy with the way my dress came out. There are a few things that are wonky (the left side of the dress looks a tad more handmade than the right, but does that really matter?), but it fits! I also discovered that my invisible zipper skills have dramatically improved, which was a pleasent surpise. I have loose plans to make another with some blue egg fabric that I aquired, but I’m also flirting with merging the Emery skirt with the bodice from the Rosie Dress because I can’t stop thinking about the collar detail.