Friday, June 28, 2013

Summer Dress

Lately I've been reading much about sewing garments in the blogs I follow daily. It's so enjoyable to read all about their adventures that I was totally in the mood to make something too.

As it happens I discovered only recently, at the age of 53 no less, that knee length dresses don't work for me because I'm short. So when that eye opening moment finally occurred I immediately started to shop for some new dress patterns.

This is the one I'm working on:
summer dress



















The design is a princess line with short sleeves, button down closure, and a collar with stand. The sleeves are gathered, but only at the the top. Needless to say they were very easy to sew, since there was no easing involved.
Much to my delight the collar with stand went quite well too. I was a bit worried because I never made a collar with stand before.

collar with stand















I've sewn one side of the collar stand to the dress with the sewing machine. The inner side, which is pinned in the photo, is going to be hand sewn.
Now that I'm looking at the photo I'm not sure whether I should have sewn the inner stand to the dress, thus having the hand sewing hidden by the collar when I wear the dress. I'll keep it in mind for the next dress, and try how it looks when I do it the other way around.

collar and sleeves















I love how the sleeves turned out, but I'm not happy with how the buttonholes turned out. I used the regular sewing thread to make them. Perhaps I should have used a thicker thread. But how to thread the machine then? A thicker upper thread and the regular sewing thread in the bobbin? I have no idea. Luckily the buttonholes will be less noticeable once the buttons are sewn on. 

pocket















The pockets are a nice detail, I think.
This is a fun project overall. And several first times are involved, like making buttonholes, and a collar with a stand.This fabric, however was so cheap that I bought 6 meters of it. It's incredible, but the fabric cost only 1 Euro per meter, and the width is 1.40 m.!!! No wonder I didn't fret about making mistakes.

 The dress is being sewn using the Pfaff and the Juki.






2 comments:

  1. Hi Marianne
    Great to see you have the garment sewing bug. Looks like you nailed that collar - great finish.

    Fabric for €1 per metre?! What a find. I wish I could find fabrics cheaply near to where I live.

    Hugs
    G
    x

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    Replies
    1. Hello Gavin,

      Thank you! I was surprised myself that the collar turned out so good.

      Finding fabrics is a challenge, isn't it. There are few fabric stores left in Holland, and none of them are close by. However my city has a weekly market with quite a few fabric booths. But I'm very picky over colors/design so I usually leave empty handed.
      Still, it sure is nicer to be able to see and touch fabrics then having to buy them online.

      By the way, I love your new shirt. Well done!!

      hugs,

      Marianne

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