For the 20th post in my  series, the letter T, I made the “Tie-On!” sundress.I needed a sundress to wear to my June “Sew ‘N Sudz” meeting. The Sew ‘N Sudz meetup group was created by lovely Tish of HISS Studio to provide an opportunity for home sewers to showcase their handmade garments. As a retiree I wear jeans almost every day, so this group is an excellent incentive for me to leave my comfort zone and dress creatively, if only once a month.

Each Sew ‘N Sudz participant wears a home sewn item representing the agreed upon theme for that month. Our theme for June was sundresses and summer gear. The Butterick  “Tie-On” pattern I had in my stash definitely qualified as a sundress with its halter bodice. I could kill two birds with one stone by sewing 5482 for the Sew ‘N Sudz meeting and also using it as my T post. How perfect! I chose a rayon fabric with a random print design from my stash. The weight and drape were perfect and the print design didn’t have to be matched at the seams. This was a FabricMart sale purchase from a couple of years ago. Stashbusting!

As usual I didn’t get started on my garment until the day before our meetup. First I checked for fitting tips on PatternReview, but I didn’t find any reviews on Butterick 5482. Which wasn’t surprising – according to Wikia, 5482 is from the 1970’s. Although the pattern itself doesn’t have a date, it’s exactly the halter style that was so popular when I was in my teens. And for you younger sewers out there without the ability to flashback to that era of braless fashion, reference the movie “American Hustle“.

Without the helpful tips PatternReview usually provides I just had to hope the size Medium would be a good fit. I did my usual 1″ short torso adjustment at the waistline but made no other pattern alterations. It was a simple dress to make, with easy tie closures, but the bottom of the dress wasn’t even when I put it on! So it took me right up until the evening of the meetup to achieve a level hem.

I would definitely recommend using either a dressform and a skirt marker, or enlisting a helpful friend to mark this dress before hemming. There would have been a 3″ discrepancy in hem length (on my figure) if I had hemmed it as the pattern indicated. And not in a cool high/low hem way, it was long at the sides – not a good look at all! But with the help of my dressform and Pin-It skirt marker my hem was finally level and I was off to Sew ‘N Sudz. Beer and sewing friends – it doesn’t get any better than that!

PS: Many thanks to my friend Rachel for taking the photos above, and Happy Independence Day America!