Fanbloomintastic Dress

Do you ever go a store and just fall in love with a fabric and just have to have it?  Of course you do, all us sewers do, amirite?  It's part of the process, seeing a fabric, loving it and making the garment of our imaginations.

I came across this fabric in my local Spotlight recently and just had to have it.  I loved the faded red colour, the floral print and the pattern placement. It is a light polished cotton and feels divine to wear.  I know the patter looks a little curtain like, but I don't care!

Again I used good old Simplicity 2444 for the bodice, now that I have the fit perfected for me, this is a nice quick make for me now. I lowered the neckline as I feel this is more flattering for my lady lumps :)

I never seem to bother with the skirt from the pattern so instead this is just a dirndl (gathered rectangle) using twice the full width of the fabric (once for the front, once for the back), gathered and of course with pockets!

One of my favourite things about this pattern is that it doesn't have lots of fancy detailing so the fabric can take be the focus.

This is closer to the real colour

Again, I left off the neck and armhole facings, I really don't like facings, and a bias finish is so much easier if you don't mind seeing a stitching line. This time I used a self-made bias, attaching it so it is visible, basically enclosing the raw edges. I first sewed his to the right side, and then stitched in the ditch to catch in the back.

It's a great dress for meetups too!  I wore it for a recent afternoon tea with fellow bloggers, Steph (also of Cake Patterns), Rachel and Reana.

Picture courtesy of mymessings.com

So now, I am off to play with my new toy!



Yep, I bought a cover stitch machine!!  I have coveted one of these for ages and now I finally have one, oh the fun things I can make now.  I sense a new obsession with stretch fabric in my near future!!

The Lazy Daisy Dress

I am having somewhat of a wardrobe crisis at the moment.  I need more dresses. Weird I know, because I sew right? So I should have loads, but I have been making a lot of separates lately and recently I have found whenever I go somewhere I really want to wear a dress, and I only have a couple that I am happy wearing. Also, ever since I cut my hair short, I feel like wearing dresses every day.  So...let April be the month of the dress!!

This is Simplicity 2444 that I also made here.

I called this "lazy" as due to all the work I did last time on the fit, all I had to do this time was cut and sew, no fussing around with fitting!  I love that!!

The fabric is a textured cotton sateen bought from Chic Fabrics on last year's trip to NYC. It is reasonably thick and so didn't require lining.  As is pretty normal for me, I used bias binding to face the armholes and neckline. No special techniques on the make, just super straight forward, no fancy seams or hemming and all on the machine - see, told you it was lazy!

Easter has come and gone and so Summer is supposed to be officially over.  We are still getting pretty warm days so hopefully I can wear this a few more times before winter sets in.

Next on the agenda some trans-seasonal pieces and to finalise (read: make) what I am wearing to Sewcietea next weekend!!

Simplicity 2444 - Hydrangea Hell to Happiness

Simplicity 2444 has many variations inlcuding a shawl collar and a big bow on the front.  I went with the simple lines of the plain dress.

On first glance upon cutting the tissue paper I thought the bodice of this was going to be funky so I made a muslin.  Did you hear that?  I MADE A MUSLIN!  Sorry for the shouting, but usually I just cut straight to the chase, cut my fashion fabric and hope for the best! 

This pattern I could tell for sure it wasn't going to fit and boy was I right.

Check out that neck, crazy big,  Even cutting a smaller size and doing an FBA wasn't going to fix that hot mess.

To fix this, I made a dart on the neck and then pivoted it to one of the darts at the waist.



I did a tissue fit instead of another muslin and decided to forge ahead.


I had some help with the cutting out ;)




SUCCESS!

I am super happy with the fit of this now and am pretty proud that I made it work.

Look how good that bodice fits now, not bad huh?

I first saw and loved this fabric at my local Spotlight store, but hesitated to buy it as I already have loads of fabric, but then when I happened to see it again at a different store and it was on sale, I just knew I had to buy it otherwise I would regret it.  It is a cotton sateen with a slight stretch which makes it super comfy.  It is also great for twirling!

I changed the back neckline, I am quite partial to a back v-neck, but that is not the reason I did it.  My zip was too short so instead of getting another one, I changed it to a v-neck - my Tim Gunn "making it work moment".

Other alterations:
- lowering the front neckline as I find it more flattering if you can see my collarbones
- omitting the facings and using bias instead - I really hate facings  and although they may have given me a cleaner edge to the neck and armholes I am still fine with that.
- I shortened the bodice by 1/2"

I feel so girly in this :)

I can definitely see me making this again in different fabrics, and wearing it variations with a belt and a cardi for winter.

Overall happiness: 95%