Tuesday, 17 September 2013

The last dress of summer




I love this fabric! I fell in love with it in Goldhawk Road at the Epic Blogger Meet up in April. Of course I have no idea of the name of the shop but it sells a lot of Liberty fabric, as well as precut packages of lawn in 3 metre cuts. The quality is lovely - the selvage confirms it is Freedom Fabrics.  I think it was £20 for 3 metres.

I was concerned I might need to line this as the fabric is so lightweight but it's really opaque. Perfect summer dress material! It's very smooth and silky - lovely to wear.

I finally used my Simplicity 2444 pattern which I got free in Sew magazine earlier this year. It took this long to get to the front of the sewing queue! And haven't other bloggers made some gorgeous versions of this pattern? Roisin has to be the 2444 queen - 7 versions (love her latest Passage over Piedmont version)! Rehanon used the bodice to great effect on her Simplex. Char from TRexes and Tiaras has made about 8! It's a popular pattern!



I love the double diagonal waist darts on this pattern. Would be great to make it in a less busy fabric so you can see them better. I was worried about doing an FBA with no bust dart but I rotated one dart up to the bust, made the adjustment and rotated it back again. Worked like  charm - thanks Twitter (as usual).

I did my usual length adjustments - 2.5" on the bodice and 2" on the skirt.  All the seams were finished on my overlocker, making it pretty speedy to put together. I was tempted to skip the facings in favour of bias tape, but Roisin advised against it. As she is the queen I went with her advice! The armhole facings are just strips of fabric anyway so probably easier to use those than to make bias!

Not sure why (and it's not hugely obvious in the pics) but I have a bit of gaping at the front neckline. Any ideas what might be causing it?  Looking at the pics I could probably stand to have a bit taken out at the waist too.


Pictures were taken in Henley - on - Thames after a full day of wear (hence the creases). But the backdrop is too pretty to pass up for want of an iron! And as it feels like summer is over now, this is definitely the last summer dress I'll be blogging for a while! 

I'm planning autumn sewing now and will be posting my plans shortly. Have you seen the Fall Essentials Sew Along that Sarah at Rhinestones and Telephones is hosting? It's a great idea so I am going to be working along with that. First stop -  wintery Anna dress! And the By Hand London ladies are hosting a sewalong too. I do love a good sewalong!
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16 comments:

  1. Clare Szabo17 September 2013 at 16:26

    Beautiful, Jo! Love the fabric and what a beautiful setting for photos. As for the gaping, I think it could be a shoulder issue. I suffer with gaping on the back neck and sometimes the front. You can often rectify it by taking it up at bit at the shoulder, or you could even pin a dart out in the pattern piece next time around?

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    1. Sew little time17 September 2013 at 19:49

      Thanks Clare. I have quite square shoulders so perhaps it could could be to do with that

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  2. soisewedthis17 September 2013 at 19:03

    Pretty fabric and great dress! I have that pattern and i haven't gotten around to it yet, but i really should!

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    1. Sew little time17 September 2013 at 19:53

      Thank you! You Def should make this one up. It's a great great basic summer dress pattern and you can fit the bodice once and make several dresses with all the variations!

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  3. Anonymous17 September 2013 at 19:51

    Gorgeous! I always get gaping at the neck, but especially with this pattern. However with my slash necked Anna I did the method suggested to fix a gaping back by Ginger Makes, here: http://gingermakes.wordpress.com/2013/09/06/by-hand-london-anna-dress-narrow-shoulder-adjustment/ except at the front too, if that makes sense. It worked really well so I am going to give it a go next time I make 2444.

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    1. Sew little time18 September 2013 at 14:17

      great - thanks for the link! i hadn't thought about using at the front too. i def don't have narrow shoulders tho - it's weird!

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  4. Roisin Muldoon17 September 2013 at 21:20

    Aw Jo this is lovely! For each of mine, I took the shoulders up and dropped the neckline too, as I often suffer from the gaping. So that might work x

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    1. Sew little time18 September 2013 at 14:16

      thanks hon - good tip as i'm sure i will make again!

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  5. Unknown18 September 2013 at 02:17

    Lovely dress! I really like that fabric and so many people seem to like this dress pattern. Going to have to look into getting it.

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    1. Sew little time18 September 2013 at 14:17

      thanks catja. ask on twitter as the pattern was a freebie on one of the UK sewing mags so someone will have it but won't use it!

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  6. The Hojnackes18 September 2013 at 07:14

    I love the bodice of this pattern. The waist darts are so fun. I need to try making this one again, because yours is just beautiful!

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    1. Sew little time18 September 2013 at 14:18

      i know - i wish you could see them better. maybe i need a plain version with sleeves for winter. thanks laura!

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  7. Fiona Parker18 September 2013 at 15:29

    That blue is LOVELY on you! Great job! I love those diagonal waist darts too

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  8. Anonymous20 September 2013 at 00:03

    This is so cute and it's going to be totally warm and sunny this weekend so it can have an extra outing. Yaaay.
    I suffered from gaping on my first version too! So on my second I lowered the neckline like Roisin. Worked much better but might still need a little nipping out of it.

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