Summer in Sydney is getting hotter… or so it seemed? This summer is feeling cooler but this dress was planned before it turned cool and I was preparing for endless hot days.
My goal was for a dress I could pull on over my head, was roomy enough to aid airflow but still looked decent in case I was leaving the house to go to the supermarket or post office. Hunting through my stash I found some Nerida Hansen remnants I had picked up at a Finders Keepers market back when we could meet in person. Each remnant was a slightly odd size so I had to plan out how I was going to cut it out to make it work. In the end I cut the top from one section and then used part of the rest of that panel and another panel to make the skirt. I didn’t even have enough fabric left to make pockets.
The pattern is my standard bodice block with a few changes
- cut the armholes slightly lower
- straightened off the side seams to create a more boxy look
- increase side seams by 1cm to allow it easy to slip on over my head
So not huge changes but enough to make it slightly more casual.
The fabric itself is lovely to wear, nice and cool and relatively wrinkle free, sewing it was less fun. The print is a digital print so every needle and pin mark showed up. I sewed it using a Microtex needle and even at a 70 needle you had to be careful not to show up the needle marks. I used my overlocker to finish the seams and you can see the marks there. Which fine is ok for a remnant but very disappointing that the quality of the fabric is so fragile for what is essentially an every day fabric.
Despite the problems it is a nice dress to wear and has been fulfilling it’s mandate of boxy pull on dress ready for the hot weather.