Can you believe this fabric sat on my shelf for 7 months before I finally sewed it up into this dress? I ordered this fabric when I was in my first trimester, and planned to make it into this Lodo Dress. I didn’t intend to make any maternity modifications – if you are new to my blog, go back to some of my maternity posts to learn more about that! – and when I finally had the time to sew this, I realized that this fabric didn’t have enough give to fit comfortably over my belly! So I abandoned that plan for another time.
I started feeling a little bit more like myself by January of this year, so I was finally ready to sew this Lodo! This fabric was one of the first pieces I pulled off of my shelf when I started making my early 2019 sewing plans, and there were a couple of reasons behind that. First of all, I had been so eager to use this fabric! The colors and the print are absolutely beautiful. Secondly, scuba is just a really good substrate to work with when you are post-partum and not really sure what is going on with you body. It is a soft knit, so it is comfortable and forgiving, but it has enough structure to hold in the areas that are still in recovery and not cling to your still changing body. Finally, the Lodo dress was the perfect silhouette, for all of these same reasons. The comfortable cocoon shape paired with the shorter length and the v-neck detail were exactly what I wanted in a dress.
At the time that I sewed this pattern, I was still stealing minutes in the sewing room with my sweet girl wrapped in her Moby wrap on my chest. She’s been a velcro baby from the start, always wanting to be attached to her mama, and this was the only way that I could keep her happy and get to my sewing machine simultaneously. If you aren’t familiar with a Moby Wrap, it is essentially a giant piece of fabric that strategically wraps around mama so that baby is tight up next to you, right next to your heart. My girl loved it when she was a newborn, but it made it essentially impossible to try on the garments I was sewing as I went along, so everything I made up through about February was made on faith and hope that they would work out!
This dress worked out… for the most part. I need a sway back adjustment, and as I’ve looked up how I want to go about this, it seems that this is a common adjustment needed with this pattern. I’ve read up on a few different ways to go about this, and I think what I am going to end up doing is taking out two fisheye darts along the back waistline, with the guidance of Lindsey at Inside the Hem’s awesome instructions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQ4HPl0GKpQ I haven’t done this yet, so you can see some of the pooling at my lower back in these photos.
I was so eager to make this dress, that I sewed it up without thinking about the practicality of this garment in my life at this moment… And guess what? Dresses (without modifications) typically aren’t the greatest option for nursing! Now, I do have some V-Neck dresses that are low enough that I can make them work, but the woven binding around the neckline here make the neckline very stable, and therefore not possible to wrangle down much lower for nursing a hungry baby.
So unfortunately, despite my excitement and eagerness to finally sew this dress that I’d had in mind for months, it has only been worn for these photos at this point! Someday, this is going to be an awesome addition to my wardrobe. Until then, you’ll find me in separates or dresses with buttons!!
If you have any special tips on swayback adjustments, whether to a pattern or an already sewn garment, I’d love your input! Once dresses re-enter my wardrobe on a regular basis, I’ll be prioritizing getting these fisheye darts added to this dress. I love the Lodo silhouette, so I do want to make this pattern again, and I think it might be to my benefit to go ahead and modify this pattern so that it is perfect for my shape on all future versions. So if you have a swayback, too, let me know your favorite adjustment methods!
Dress: Handmade by Me!
Pattern: True Bias – Lodo Dress
Fabric: Lady McElroy – Floral Reef Scuba (originally purchased at Fabric Godmother; now sold out, but available at Minerva Crafts here!
- XX Elizabeth
