Soooo, I have been quite absent recently from le blog, and for this I apologise. Work and studying and general life just took over. I haven't been sewing quite as much as I would like, and I haven't been sewing much for myself at all, but I did manage to make this fabulous dress a couple of months ago:
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| it looks loads better on that it does on the hanger but I have been struggling to find decent daylight to get some 'wearing' pics and the light in my house is less than fantastic |
This is my much loved Unicorn Dress, with pockets, and I wear it loads.
There isn't really much to say about it, as it was a pretty simple make.
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| and the back I attempted pattern matching but didn't put too much effort into it |
This most Holly-style dress is made using the Simple Sew English Tea Dress, which I have had forever and have had many plans to make, but it took me a while. I have a few lengths of fabric bought to make this dress, but it was the unicorns that finally made me do it.
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| POCKETS! Next time I think I will add a small facing so they are not so obvious |
The fabric is from Riley Blake and I had to have it because UNICORNS (you should see the unicorn collection of presents I got for my birthday and Christmas last week) and I fully lined the dress with some polycotton from my stash. I originally was going to do a hot pink lining, but I didn't have enough and couldn't be bothered to go buy any more so the turqouisey-blue it was.
I also drafted some pockets from the lining fabric because POCKETS! I love a dress with pockets. Next time I will make my pockets bigger as I have to make my hands into fists to fit in the pockets, but we live and learn.
I did my usual FBA, but otherwise this is straight out of the packet and fits lovely. I could maybe lower the waist a smidgen, but its not bothering me. Construction was pretty straight forward too. I glanced at the instructions, but I think I have made enough simple dresses now to not really need to.
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| Christmas day version - I love tartan |
I loved this dress so much and the fit is so flattering that I used the pattern to make a Christmas version. This time from red tartan. I didn't quite have enough fabric for sleeves so my Christmas day dress is a sleeveless version.
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| you can just about see my fab hearts binding on this pic. I used this for the neckline, armholes and hem. |
Now that I have the pattern altered for my fit it is a quick make. I didn't line this, but finished the neckline and armsyces with some binding from my stash. I also put a metal zip from my stash in this one. Its not the neatest zip insertion, but I really do struggle with exposed zips and I don't mind as I love this dress so much. In fact, everything from this dress is from my stash. I am therefore considering that it cost me nothing to make.
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| and the exposed metal zip at the back |
I think it total this dress took me three evenings, so about 7-8 hours to make from cutting out to finishing. There were a couple of nay sayers at work that doubted my ability to get this finished in time for Christmas day when I was cutting it out on the Tuesday before, but I showed them HA! Never underestimate a determined dressmaker.
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| Tartan matching was never going to happen perfectly on this one with the darts, but I don't think I did too bad a job of it, and I found once it was made and I was wearing it that I didn't care. |
So that's all I really have to say about this one. I will no doubt be making more. I think some simple light summer dresses are in order . . .
I have a few more bits to blog, mostly not for me, and I can't remember what order I made them in so they will be blogged out of order.
Now, I am on with panto costumes, so nothing I can share will be made for a couple of months, but fingers crossed I will be back sewing around March time (knitting continues when I get a seat to myself on the train), but I will be sharing some of my 2016 makes with you in the meantime. My in laws bought me some lovely grey and pink tartan for my birthday so I can't wait to make something from that, and I really want to make a dent in my stash this year.
Happy Crafting!
Holly
xx
