V8805: Colour-Blocked Dress & Yesterday's Meet-Up

We had such a fun day yesterday! We met at The Fabric Store and the Alannah Hill clearance outlet, bought some fabric, then went to the Little Creatures Beer Hall and drank some beer (or cider or champagne) and ate some chips and pizza.

Eight of us met, but by the end only 5 of us remained.... me, Lara (Thornberry), Anna (blogless Anna), Leith (Sew Brunswick) and Steph (Orchids in May).

It is so wonderful to go fabric shopping with other sewers. I recently bought an overlocker, and as I have not sewn much with knits, was able to tap into Leith's experience with knits to choose the perfect jersey. I also quizzed Steph on whether a fabric was silk or a good poly at the Alannah Hill outlet. It is also really cool to see people's garments in person and see how they move and drape - so much better than a blog photo!

Plus how fun is it to chat and have a few drinks with just women! I love it (no offence to Michael of course). I finished sewing the dress in the above photo at 11.55am - I had to leave at 12.15 to make it on time! It is made in a Liberty print and is a maxi dress - but I forgot to get photos, so my post on that will have to wait.

I also went out for dinner on Friday night with my mothers' group - again a wonderful night with fantastic women. I wore my newly finished Vogue 8805 - the colour-blocked dress that has exploded in the blogisphere.

I was so extremely tired... Little M is getting more teeth

I made it in linens, all from Tessuti. I love the printed linen on the bottom -  it is so lush.

I made a size 12 with no alterations except for lengthening it 6cm. It hangs nicely and is comfy.... but is not quite as sack-like as I imagined - do you think I needed to go bigger?

I don't really have much to say about this dress. It comes together very easily - I think it would have been a few hours including hand stitching. I made some facings for the neck as I didn't want visible stitching that would be created from using the binding the pattern suggested. I hand stitched the sleeves and hem so the topstitching on the neckline would have been out of place.

We're planning another meet-up soon, with a fabric and pattern swap. Who is keen? I am!!