Minerva Crafts Project - Floral Shift Dress

Hello there!   Sorry for the long absence, life seems to have got in the way somewhat over the last couple of weeks.  First hubby and I were away for a weekend for his birthday, then we were both ill with a nasty sickness bug.  It's good to be back to normal and blogging again!

For my first project for the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network I wanted to make something that typified my style. 

Anyone who has visited my blog will know I love dresses and I love printed fabrics. 

I decided to use one of my favourite patterns, New Look 6000, choosing view D without the collar.

 

I’ve used views D (collarless) and E at least 6 times now... possibly more!  As soon as I saw this fabric I knew it would be perfect for this pattern.

The fabric is 100% cotton lawn and it is really lovely.  I must confess I rarely use 100% cotton as I often find it too stiff, but this one definitely isn’t.  It’s crisp but still soft, is gorgeous to sew and feels very comfortable to wear.

Now, you’d think that using a pattern I was so familiar with would mean things would go smoothly, wouldn’t you? 

So did I, but sadly, I forgot that I normally fold an inch out of the length of the bodice, in between the underarm and the bust dart.  I was merrily sewing away and got as far as having inserted the invisible zip before I tried it on... and had a shock when it was too tight across the hips and I couldn’t work out why.  Then it dawned on me that I hadn’t folded out my normal inch across the bodice, which obviously lifts everything an inch, and makes the hip shaping curve out that bit higher.  I therefore spent a happy evening unpicking the zip, sleeves (yes, I’d put those in as well!) and shoulder seams so I could recut the top of the dress taking the necessary alteration into account.

Thankfully I was then able to complete everything else without any further issue.

Although it's almost Winter here, I decided to make the dress with short sleeves.  Even if it had long sleeves I probably wouldn't wear it at this time of year without a cardigan over, and I hate the dragging of cardigan sleeves against fabric underneath.  I therefore went with the little pleated cap sleeves, which I think look really pretty.

The body of the dress is fully lined with black lining, which is handstitched to the zip tape and armsyce seams.  I finished the hem by treating the outer fabric and lining as one, and machine stitched a double folded hem.  I love to line my dresses and enclose all the raw edges.  It takes a bit more time, but I'm always much happier with the finish of a lined dress.  It also means I don't have to tangle with facings - which I hate!  The sleeves are unlined and just finished with a double folded hem.

I love how this dress has turned out and know I’ll get a lot of wear out of it.  If you’d like to make your own version, you can buy the kit here.  It contains 2 metres of the cotton lawn, 1.5 metres of lining fabric and a 22” invisible zip.