Bold blue summer dress (simplicity 2417)

I have been meaning to post this for a long time!

I think this is my favorite thing that I have ever made. I totally fell for this printed fabric and rather than allowing it to hide in my fabric stash for the rest of my life I actually used it!

And I took photos with some with the flash on, to see if I could get a more accurate color representation of the dress (but failed to get a good represenation)…

I really included the last one because I was so happy with the fact that my hair was behaving for once. Haha. The fit is better than it looks I promise. I was just wearing the wrong *ahem* undergarments.

The blue in the fabric is very different IRL, but eh I tried.

This year I am going to use all my good fabric (rather than saving it for the non existent “perfect project”). I love the print of the fabric its sort of delicious in a late 60s kind of way!

The fabric reminds me me of this print ad from the 60s (that I had on a pintrest board)…

I wore this dress to a 90th birthday party and got some lovely compliments, which I love because mature ladies are often the most stylish 🙂

I deliberately used a tried-and-true pattern (Simplicity 2417) that way I could skip the fitting woes for this project! I have already used this pattern countless times, but it is so easy and this pattern uses so little fabric, that I can’t stop! A sewing project that involves minor fitting and alterations is such a joy to sew.

The fabric is a light weight cotton drill that I bought at spotlight it was about $8 per meter on sale. That is far more than I usually pay, but I had to have it because the print was really calling my name.

When cutting out the skirt portion, I did consider the print, but I should have experimented more with positioning of the the print in relation to  the pleats in the skirt, I sort of had to re-arrange it a bit ‘after-the fact’.

This dress is so easy to wear because I underlined the skirt portion with a light batiste. The reason I did this was because the drill creases easily…I figured that by underlining it, it would give it some weight and stability and stop it creasing as much. I was right!

The underling also makes the dress sit better and feel more substantial to wear. I must do this with future projects.

I took an additional 6 mm out of the top of the side seams of the bodice and shortened the straps.

I had a lot of construction notes and I really wish I wrote them in a book. I completed this garment a long time ago, so any hiccups are a distant memory.

I vaguely remember fussing with the skirt underling, because I changed the positioning of the pleats slightly to fit the print, but that’s all I remember.

I lined the bodice rather than underling it. Not sure if that makes a difference. Perhaps later I will post pictures of the insides of the dress.

This year I will use actual fabric to make wearable muslins and then only fashion fabric that I LOVE when I have perfected the fit of a garment! The work is the same and life is short!

I can’t wait to make more things in bold prints and bright colours!

Lots-of-zebras dress (using: Simplicity 2417)

Continuing the animal theme here is my latest dress. I see a lot more novelty print dresses in my future, because it seems I am incapable of growing up, or acting too mature 😉

If I had to pick a safari animal that best represented me I would pick a zebra- they are so bold and print-tastic! Sorry bit of a photo dump in this post (I need to learn how to edit!)

Feel free to lol at the odd placement of my legs. I am not actually mega tall or hitting the roof of my apartment it’s just because I am standing on futon thing.

I bought the fabric about a year ago at spotlight and I originally intended to make a skirt out of it. I’m so glad I made a dress instead! There wasn’t a lot of fabric to work with but there was easily enough for Simplicity 2417 (my stash busting pattern)!

I realize wearing such a busy print is not everyone’s cup of tea but I enjoy it. I love busy prints! Every time I make a dress out of a poly/cotton like this one, the garment gets a lot of wear because the fabric barley creases and its really durable!

I wore the dress today during a Christmas shopping expedition with my mum. It’s pretty comfortable and easy to wear (the waist is nice and roomy). I wore it chunky wooden platform shoes. My mum approved :).

So to conclude my foolishness: Zebras are awesome and now I have a dress covered in them. Mission accomplished!

This dress was so quick and easy! I want to make more very soon! Check out my previous post if you wanted to see how I constructed the dress.

Sewing notes: Simplicity 2417 sewing how-to

I thought I would share with you some photos I took during the construction process

 If you click on the image it will open a much larger version of it in another tab in your browser and it will give you a somewhat detailed description of what I did.

Note: I may have missed steps in my explanation… I just wanted to highlight the way I construct a dress with straps that has a lined bodice. I never follow pattern instructions, so my process may be different!

I used simplicity 2417 I have made a dress from this pattern before. I love this pattern, because its simple, quick to sew and uses such a small amount of fabric (compared to your average dress).

Alterations I made for my print dress: I shortened the straps by 4cms. I also took 6mm out of both side seams at the top of the bodice (as the original dress had become too roomy under the arms but I tapered it to nothing before the waist so it would stay the same size. That was it. cheaking the fit was easy because I already had by ‘stash busting dress’ made from the same pattern, so I could just try that on and see if the fit was right

Ok heres my process… If you click on the image it will open a much larger version of it in another tab in your browser and it will give you a somewhat detailed description of what I did.

Note: I may have missed steps in my explanation… I just wanted to highlight the way I construct a dress with a  lined bodice and straps. I never follow pattern instructions, so my process may be different!

2417 Simplicity Dress ‘The stash-busting dress’

To be honest with you, for me, there is nothing I would rather make or wear than a dress!

When I bought this spot-print fabric I only bought one meter (intending to make a gathered skirt) Usually I over-buy so that was unusual for me. Later I really regret only buying 1 meter of it because looking at it when I got home I thought It would make a great dress.

I am so happy to have found a pattern that has a fuller/non-fitted skirt (more comfortable for everyday) but does not use very much fabric (LOVE THAT!) This pattern in size 10 it only requires 1.15 meters of 115 cm wide fabric or using 150 cm wide fabric only 1 meter (I think that is only just over a yard). YES! I could make a dress in this fabric after all.

Sometimes it is important to look at the line drawing and look past the totally UNCUTE way they style things on pattern envelopes (sun dress with a bowling shirt anyone?)! I only bought this pattern for the dress but there are other separates with this pattern (not really feeling any of the others).

I really loved Emily’s (from Sew Many Happies) version of this dress. I think its what really motivated me to try this pattern out!

This pattern is so quick to make. Aside from getting the straps the right length. I am a little asymmetrical at the shoulders so this is always a nightmare for me! I lost count of how many times I unpicked the straps to readjust them and after sewing the lining to the dress one of the straps is STILL not quite right (it gapes slightly) but this is where I tell my inner perfectionist to shut  the hell up, put on the dress, enjoy it and carry on with my life!

Another discovery is that my waist is very big in relation to my hip size/build. When working with patterns in future I am just going to automatically add 6mm just at the waist. What can I say? I love my chocolate ;).

I feel like this sun dress looks a little bit like Hazel by Colette Patterns but with a longer waistline and thicker straps. Paunnet made a gorgeous version of the Hazel. I just love sun dresses! I know I am slightly crazy making them throughout winter, I am wearing this one today with a cardigan and I will be adding a scarf and cropped trench coat when I go outside.

I will definitely be using this pattern again. Like I said I love a dress pattern that is cute but doesn’t use a lot of fabric, because I am on a tight budget.