Tessuti Gridlock Sewing Competition Entry

Have everyone been watching the entries for the Tessuti Gridlock Sewing Competition pop up all over the place? There are some mighty fine creations out there. I have thrown my hat in the ring too - there is $1000 at stake! Think of all the fabric you could buy with $1000!

For this competition you have to use the fabric 'Gridlock' from Tessuti. It is a jacquard, and I must admit I wasn't sure what to make. In the end, I chose the Merchant and Mills Panel Dress Pattern. I thought something simple with pattern pieces that might allow me to use both sides of the fabric might do the trick. 

I hadn't used a Merchant and Mills pattern before so I muslined it. I think this was necessary as the Merchant and Mills patterns are not multi-sized. You pick your size and hold your breath and hope for the best. I chose the size 12 and it didn't require too many alterations.  

The pattern is pretty amazing. It comes printed on card with all the holes punched out already (i.e., for your darts and all the notches). It comes rolled in the cylinder and also has a hook to hang the pattern pieces from (they now live hanging on my wall in my sewing room.). Pretty cool huh? 

Here are the alterations I made:

• I added a back vent. 
• I lowered the neckline by 1.5cm.
• I took in the CF by 3cm in total.
• I took in the CB at the top by 2cm. 

I had a lot of fun deciding which side of the fabric to do each panel - here is what I came up with:

I decided to underline the entire dress in blue silk/cotton lining from Tessuti. I hand basted it all together (it took me FOREVER):

And here is the dress!

I'm not going to lie - I'm not sure this colour is for me. Blogless Anna was over at my house a few weekends ago for a ladies' sewing arvo and she tried it on - I think I will be gifting this dress to her. Her colouring really really suited the lovely jacaranda blue of this dress.

Colour aside, I had so much fun making this dress. It really made me pay a lot of attention to finishing the dress, and I had to really think about what to make as jacquard is not a fabric I naturally gravitate to (I'm really a cotton and linen girl).

So that is my competition entry - what do you think? Make sure you check out the Pinterest page Tessuti are putting all the entries onto (look on the Tessuti blog for the link) - there are some really amazing garments popping up!