Meet my new favourite dress! This dress has already had loads of wear and am excited to share it. I fell in love with this fabric, an apple print on a black background, from fabricland which was on sale at just £2.49 per metre. At this price I had to have some but then it languished in my stash for over a year.
I always knew I wanted to make it into a dress and originally thought that I might make something from Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book. The perfect pattern turned out to be one that had been sitting in my stash for a while- Simple Sew's Amelia Dress. I got this free with a copy of Love Sewing magazine and loved it immediately. I rediscovered the forgotten pattern when tidying up my sewing space and knew it would be perfect for this fabric.
I made view B with the short sleeves, my preferred length of sleeve on a dress. I was attracted to the shirring at the waist of this pattern, which was a technique I hadn't used before. I did a few test rows on some scraps of fabric before shirring the waist panel. It is a very forgiving technique and although it's not as perfectly straight as I would like, it isn't noticeable.
It is a very flattering fit due to the shirred waist panel and this makes it so comfortable to wear. As a teacher, I'm moving around constantly, so it's important that my work clothes are smart but also comfortable which this is. I'm looking forward to wearing it with my red clog sandals in the summer.
The only change I made was to lower the neckline slightly- the V-neck was quite high so I made it about 1.5cm lower which is perfect and not revealing! I also bought the wrong zip - just an ordinary zip instead of an invisible zip which I am used to. Since I had never inserted a normal zip I had to look up how to online, but found it simple. It's not the best zip I've ever put into a dress, but it works and as it's at the back it's not something I have to look at!
I'm very pleased with this dress and it has inspired me to try another of the Simple Sew patterns - the Annabelle Dress - which is going to be my summer holiday project! It's currently baking here today - 26 degrees - so I'm off to get a cool drink and sew something summery to wear this weekend.
What's your favourite tea dress pattern?
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