Sewing Review: Jalie Figure Skating Halter Dress #2571

I’m working my way through the Jalie figure skating dress line up. A few weeks ago I sewed this dress for Ice Friend. As with most Jalie patterns, this one went together pretty intuitively and without too much trouble. I learned a few things along the way, though.

Fringe. If you’re going to add the fringe, shorten the skirt. I’ve never sewn fringe before, but it wasn’t too difficult. I machine-basted 4” around the bottom of the skirt, sheared off the bottom using the basting as a guide, sewed the fringe to the right side of the hem, ironed the seam to the back, and topstitched the seam allowance flat.

View A’s ring. I sewed view A (bottom left on the photo) and the pattern instruction’s ring diagram took me a lot of think time. I remember thinking, “This can’t possibly be right.” I wish I could tell you what I did, but I remember looking at the diagrams, manipulating fabric, and going for it.

Extra straps. The straps in this pattern hold up the dress, but on a chesty skater, the straps just don’t hold in the girls. Originally, I had just used the two straps on the ring for Ice Friend. She practiced in the dress and the girls spilled out the sides. So I added two additional straps and crisscrossed all of them. Unfortunately, to hold in the girls, the straps had to be really tight – so tight that Ice Friend was trapped in the dress. I cut her loose and used small loops on the back and small swimsuit hooks at the end of each strap. This system worked pretty well – Ice Friend could even do a somersault in the dress and the straps stayed on.

Would I make it again? Yep. It’s a pretty cool dress. However, if your skater has lots of cleavage, I’d choose another pattern.