Friday, October 15, 2010

An Easy-Peasy Project to Ease Myself Back In

I've had a bit of a hiatus, but there was fabric in my stash calling to me, so I bit the bullet and decided to make myself a little frock to get back into the land of sewing.


I've had this in my pattern stash since the very beginning:


I also had about 1.5m of Japanese cotton from a while ago, and 0.5m of some blue denim (I have no idea when or where I bought it - maybe an op-shop because I haven't bought this type of denim for a project before).

So I made View A:


Excuse my very tired face, somewhat limp hair and extremely minimal makeup. It is a horrible-weather day here in Melbourne, and it was pretty tough to get out of my warm clothing!

The back view:


This dress is very easy to make. I jazzed it up a bit by doing french seams:


And by facing the bottom band. I didn't have enough denim to do the facing, so I used leftover Japanese cotton. I think it looks pretty!



I don't really have anything ground-breaking to say about this. There is no tricky closure, it goes straight over the head. The trickiest part is the curving on the yoke, but that is not too bad, as the dress part fits perfectly into it, making it easy to sew. I do recommend this pattern if you want an easy, summery, tent-ish dress. I've worn it a few times already, with sandals on a warm day and boots on a colder one.

I do have something else to show you soon - I finally finished the matching Cynthia Rowley jacket to my black racer-back dress. It had been languishing cut and partially begun on my sewing table for almost 2 months. I ruined the sleeves once, and had to go and buy more fabric, but have finally finished the wiley little thing. I'll try and get some photos soon.

Hope no Melburnians are headed to the Caufield Cup tomorrow (horse racing day for non-Melbourne people) -- the weather is forecast to be insanely wild!

22 comments:

  1. Hey Rachel

    The dress looks great on you. Don't you wonder at pieces of fabric that just appear in your stash? It happens to me too.

    Thanks for listing me as a beautiful blogger - I must get onto that, I just don't get much time for blogging these days, but I love to read everyone elses.

    I finished my racer back dress and must post pics, the jacket is so cool, but detailed. Can't wait to see yours.

    Take care and stay indoors tomorrow!

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  2. Ohh...I love this dress. the fabric combo is fantastic! The seams are also great! Well don!

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  3. wow - good on you for seeing the potential in that pattern. Your dress is gorgeous! View C on the pattern front looks very 'tuck shop lady'!
    lore
    x

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  4. This is such a cute dress! Nice job. I think I might need to seek out this very same pattern. I love that you excluded the pockets and kept it to a very minimal palette of gray and black. Lovely : )

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  5. Super cute dress! This style is flattering on you! You make the cutest dresses!

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  6. This looks great on you and I love the combination of Japanese cotton and denim. I agree that the cotton facing is super-cute. A success! Can't wait to see the jacket.

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  7. Cute & comfy, what a great combination! So chic, Rachel.
    I love the japanese cotton, I keep trying to find some in NZ but no luck as yet. I may need to suck it up and buy from ebay/etsy... although I'm worried that might set off an addiction :)
    ~Alana

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  8. Thanks everyone!

    Corinne - I can't wait to see your dress! I've been thinking of making another one, but need inspiration for what fabric to use for the second.

    Lore - I think this was the 2nd pattern I ever bought, and was definitely in the stage of only doing 'easy' patterns. I must have thought there was something cute about it back then, but its taken me all this time to make it!

    Alana -- Japanese cotton is certainly an addiction. I haven't ventured to ebay/etsy for it yet (I've gotten all of mine from Tessuti Fabrics - who sell online btw). It is just so nice to sew, and comes in the nicest prints. Am I helping? Buy it.....

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  9. Very cute. I'm also impressed at your initiative of making summery things at the moment given the weather! It's awful, and so I can't drag myself away from making cold weather dresses yet...

    www.habitatclothing.com.au/blog

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  10. Very nice - I'm not usually a fan of tent-style dresses, but this looks really cute on you! I can't wait to see your jacket.

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  11. Your looks better than the envelope - McCalls should have you as the model.

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  12. Really cute! I wouldnt have looked twice at this pattern but you made it look great!

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  13. I so interested in french seams! I can't work out how to do them! (It did take me ages to work out that clothes were sewn inside out, when I first started sewing and following patterns!)

    xoxo

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  14. Thank you to everyone!

    Fi -- I wish I'd made more cold weather clothing. I have many summery dresses, but not really any winter ones. Note to self for next year....

    Maree - thank you!

    Veronica Darling - french seams are easy! Instead of sewing with the right sides of the fabric together, begin with them wrong sides together. I stitch them together at a 1cm seam allowance, and then trim the seam. Then iron it down so that the right sides are together, and you can't see the raw edge. Then straight stitch again at 0.5cm seam allowance. Viola! You have french seams.

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  15. I think you're very sensible to start on something easy again. After my first dressmaking experience (which was a good one) I haven't been back to the sewing table until this week, and I'm starting a relatively simple vintage pattern dress too.

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  16. I've considered buying this pattern for myself to try - it looks great!

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  17. I like! Your dress looks sophisticated and everything on the envelope looks like toddler-clothes. I never would have guessed that it could turn out so great! Good job!

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  18. Cute dress! I have a similar McCall's pattern in my stash... I'll need to pull it on in the spring since we're about it hit winter in the US.

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  19. Very pretty! Love the contrast and the inverted pleat in front.

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  20. Ooh, I like that dress, you could also add side pockets to it. It does indeed look like a comfy summer dress.

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  21. Cute dress! I like the facing on the bottom band, that could work if you ever end up with a too-short project as well..

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