The Dubarry Dress: A Great Personality, but...

When do you call it quits on a project? I think it is like breaking up with someone. You try to make it work as much as you can until, at one point, you realize no matter how hard you try, it is going nowhere. It is ugly and messy, and no one wants to do it, but it has to be done. This is what happened with my Dubarry Dress.

It started out slow, the first date was a long evening of cutting out fabric and transferring markings, just getting to know each other. It wasn't love at first sight, but it was an okay evening. The next couple of nights were pleasant enough, and things seemed to go smoothly and somewhat quickly. I started cutting the fabric Sunday and by Thursday I was ready to test the fit — everything but the sleeves and hem were done. When I tried it on, it was not exactly what I expected. Instead of a stylish perfectly fit vintage dress (which is what the pattern promised), I looked like I was wearing a teal colored sack. A sleeveless teal colored polyester sack, at that. Lovely.

My idea was to try to take it in on the sides, but that didn't help, it made it worse. The way the dress was constructed this caused problems putting on the dress. I felt like a sausage trying to get into a casing. Now the look was: awkward. Still a sack, but just tighter in some places more than others. So, I then tried to remove the dress from my body. Now, instead of a sausage getting into the casing, I was stuck trying to get out of it. No kidding. Stuck. For a good five minutes. After some swearing and crazy body contortions, I finally got it off. Maybe that was when I started to realize that things weren't "working" between me and Dubarry. But, I needed reinforcement. I needed people to tell me I wasn't making a mistake.

I got a second opinion from my Sidekick (who is no longer Pattern Cohort and who is always obnoxiously right about my relationships) and she thought I should give it one more chance. She thought I should put on the sleeves, and see if that would help. Well, after a busy weekend with family in town, I finally got to the sleeves yesterday. It did not help.

Again, I tried it on for Sidekick. Better? Nope. She even tried it on. She is a bit, well actually a lot bustier than I am, but that didn't help the problem either. To fix it to be wearable, for anyone, I would have to redraft almost all of the pattern pieces, changing the neckline, bodice and sleeves. But, then it would look nothing like the dress on the pattern cover. So, I think I am going to admit defeat, or what everyone else has said, decide that this is not a pattern for me. Sigh.

It's not you Dubarry, it's me. Maybe we can just be friends?