Good morning to my Tribe of Sewing Friends!
Well you asked for the Appleton Dress on a mature woman! And here it is.
My Appleton dress
I am hopeful that at 63, I qualify as “mature”, although most days I still wonder what I am going to be when I grow up.
Full disclosure: I bought and paid for this pattern, so I owe nothing to Jenny personally. No one, except a few readers asked me for this review. Also I am wearing no shape wear or spanx for this photo shoot.
My measurements for your comparison: 45-41-48. I usually wear a D-cup bra.
I am 5’8″ tall and have size 11 feet. I have a thicker waist and belly now than in my youth but still some definition in my waistline. I consider myself long waisted. I have a full round bum, stooped and rounded upper back, and quite a broad back. I have a foreword head and my shoulders have rotated forward. I also have beefy upper arms and generally do a BAA. (Beefy Arm Adjustment). You can learn more about the adjustments that I usually make for these figure variations in my previous post Fitting My Aging and Mature Body.
My biggest problem with most knit patterns is the armscye; it is often in the wrong place for my rotated shoulders.
I am now retired and wear very few dresses, but a classic wrap dress is different. It will not go out of style and can be dressed up or down. In my opinion, it looks great on me and I am my own worst critic. My husband’s comment? “What a great dress. You look nice!” High praise indeed from a man of few words.
More Appleton pics!
Fabric
This poly knit came from my stash. It has a heavy beefy hand and reminds me of a slinky type knit. It is difficult to tell right side so I marked the wrong side with chalk! This fabric is a lustrous wine red color. I went with a plain color and not a print to keep the more classic theme. This knit stretches 50% in both directions. I did have to piece the ties to get all of the pattern pieces onto this cut of fabric.
What size I went with and why
My measurements put me into size 18C/D on Jenny’s size chart. I felt confident in Jenny’s negative ease in the top of the dress but worried about negative ease in my hip area, so I graded out to a 20 at the waist and hip. I then went back and decided that I wanted the extra coverage that is suggested. So in the end I cut out the 18 graded to 20 in the EF sizing. I then tissue fitted the front of the dress and decided that this dress was a bit short waisted on me. I went back and studied the pictures of all the blogged Appletons and agreed with myself. So I added 1 1/2 ” at the waist line marking. Remember to drop the circle marking to your new waist line. That is where you want your belt loop to be. So my dress ended up 1 1/2 ” longer than drafted. I am tall so I ended up being grateful for that bit extra. Now for comparison, with last years’ big hit Moneta dress, I needed 2 ” extra waist length. I found no one else in the blog world who found that dress short-waisted.
I did compare the armscye to my favorite t-shirt pattern and made no changes. I measured the size 18 sleeve and decided it would be a bit too tight for me. I cut the sleeve in a size 18 at the shoulder and graded out to a size 22 at the underarm seam. I chose the 3/4 length sleeve.
I considered doing my stooping forward shoulder adjustment but with that beautifully drafted curved back neckline I decided I probably would not need it and I was right. I considered doing a broad back adjustment but again decided against that.
I encountered no problems with sewing the dress and followed the instructions carefully. I used my favorite 75/11 stretch needle and my serger. The size 22 sleeve eased in quite nicely.
I am happy with where the adjusted waist sits on this dress. The belt is still at least 3 inches above my belly button. I am very glad I chose the larger sleeve, and it fits well. The back neck fits well and I love the curved neckline! I don’t think I needed a broad back adjustment. I am very happy with the bust coverage, and it does not gape at all when bending forward. The armscye is damn near perfect, as drafted.
What will I change next time: Nothing! I will make a fun summer print one for next summer. For this winter I am going to make this into a wrap t-shirt!
My Appleton styled for fall
The printed pattern went together well and I loved the faint grid markings.
The little extras are noted like not needing to cut off “bunny ears” when lining up the neck pieces. All notches line up perfectly. Well, well, well drafted! This dress is exactly as advertised and a wrap dress is my new best friend.
I am giving this pattern a 5 out of 5 rating. I could find nothing about it that I did not like.
Hi Elaine I love your dress. I’ve been following your Washington sewing as well with admiration. I see you hanged the Washington into a tunic length top. Would you (or have you) done the same for the Appleton?
Hi Sandra, I have actually just finished hacking the Appleton neckline on to the Washington bodice and made it into a Tshirt. i am hacking the Washington dress into a cardigan with an Appleton like neckline. The Tshirt has been posted on the flicker site here.
Thanks Elaine.
I am so pleased to see your review. At 63 years old, same height and very close to the same size I thought I was too “mature” to try the patterns shown on the Curvy Sewing Collective. I immediately ordered the Appleton after reading your review. I have been following Cashmerette since she started her blog and admire her style. Your reviews have been an inspiration. Thank you so much!
Great review and it looks good on you.
Thank you for this review. I’m so interested in adjustments and I feel so many reviews just leave out that important part. You’re so detailed in your decision making process about adjusting and figuring out fit. So helpful for a beginner like me to kinda get inside a more advanced sewers head and know what you’re thinking during that process. Thanks, on behalf of all us less experienced. 🙂
This looks lovely on you!
You look fabulous! I made my Appleton in one day without any changes, and everything went well. I haven’t worn it yet, but I was pleased with the way it turned out, and I look forward to wearing it. I loved your review, thank you!
That is such a lovely color and cut. Now that you mention it I do think I could have also used added length on the waist of my Monetta, I haven’t blogged it but if i do I’m going to try that edit. Thank you for sharing the sleeve adjustments that is my next “sweet spot” that needs fitting.
Great review. I haven’t made this or the Moneta but had to add a lot to the front waist length of PR’s Winter Street Dress which no-one else mentioned. But then I always have to so no big surprise.
My favourite line is”And then I agreed with myself.” Love it! Your dress looks great on you, and I love the colour. Thanks for writing this post!
You look stunning, Elaine! No wonder your husband was a fan (and mine is similar to yours – it means a LOT if he says a dress is nice without me prompting).
I’ve made this pattern once (tester version) and the waist was too high for me as well, by ~1-2″, so I’ll be lowering that on my next version. (for reference I’m 177cm tall)
Looks good! And I loved how you styled it!
Did you notice the Fluvog shoes! Bunion friendly and styling!
Thank you for this and to the CSC for helping mature sewers (like me!) to be heard. I don’t think I have the bust for this style, but it looks great on you.
On Jenny’s blog there is a small bust adjustment for this pattern!
Your dress looks lovely. I was not sure about making one for my mature figure but you sold me. I will put this pattern on my list. Thank you
Jenny – Thank you so much for giving Elaine the opportunity to blog about her experience in making your Appleton Dress. So very nice to see mature women wearing beautiful clothes that actually fit and look stylish and chic.
Elaine – You look fabulous in your Appleton Dress. Very nice job and it’s always nice to read about fit issues that other sewers make to fine tune patterns so they have a proper fitting garment. Wasn’t sure it a wrap dress would look good on me, but my measurements are similar to yours, and you look wonderful so now I can’t wait to make my own Appleton Dress 🙂
Thanks again to both of you.!!.
this is stunning! really great review for we mature bodies!
It looks amazing on you, and the colour is really lush. Thanks for the thorough review!
Gorgeous! And I love that colour. Thanks for the tip on the waistline, because I am less responsible and don’t tissue-fit or make muslins, so it’s good to know! I am 5’9″ and usually need to add length to all tops. Incidentally, I am pretty sure I also added length to the waist of my Moneta and was happy I did! So, there you go, someone else in blogland who added length to the waist. (Although that doesn’t make it a short-waisted pattern, since I add length to all waists usually.)
I too am not a fan of wrap dresses but this one does look great on you! I am 61 years old – 5’8″ tall with size 11 feet! My measurements are different but not extremely so! Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience AND result of the Appleton dress. Inspirational!
Ohhhhh! I would have loved to go to school with another person that was shaped a bit different from ” normal”. My sister wears a size 13 shoe so I learned early not to complain…….it could always be worse!
I so appreciate your honest unbiased review of Jenny’s Appleton dress. I am not a fan of wrap dresses, they just don’t work for me but after reading your previous post on the ‘maturing’ body, I might change my mind. The dress looks fantastic on you! You did a wonderful job on alterations, you certainly do know your body and what works for you.
Please don’t stop writing and contributing to the CSC, I enjoy all of your postings. Must be because I, too, have a ‘maturing’ body! Many thanks.
Abbie
I agree that we are an under appreciated and under served demographic. I still like fun and funky, not frumpy. So I sew. Then I can get what I like, in the colors that I like. But I don’t want to look like I am desperately hanging on to something I am not!
Thank you for this review! I especially appreciate your detailed discussion of the alterations your considered but rejected, in addition to the alterations that you actually did. I’m excited to try this pattern soon!