This week I sewed a couple of dresses.
The pattern is the York Pinafore by Helen's Closet - a Canadian designer!
The dress is perfect for putting on over a T-shirt for the summer. It was incredibly easy to make and so nice to wear - that's why I made two. And check out those pockets!
Then I wanted to try it out in a lighter weight fabric, so the blue one is the second one.
Here are my thoughts and some changes I made -
I made size medium. The pattern is designed for someone with a B-cup, I am definitely not a B-cup, so I added length to the front straps like the pattern suggests (I added even more for the blue one - green one about 1/2", and the blue one another inch). I also made the blue one a bit wider in the 'bib' front.
The dress is a cocoon style, which works in the twill, but I ended up taking some of the roundness out of the blue skirt, it just didn't sit right.
I knew going into this that this style is not the best for me - I love tunics, overalls and loose fitting tops, but they 'ski-slope' off my boobs and look like maternity clothes. To help a bit I added a piece of elastic in the back (about a 6-7" piece at my waist).
I used a 3 stitch zig-zag stitch to sew it in.
For the binding I just made single fold bias tape,
I made so much that both dresses have the same (and why the second one was so quick to make).
For me this is a perfect home dress. Easy to wear and so comfy. The pattern is wonderful. It has very clear directions. Indie designed pattern are so nice to sew because there always seems to be lots written about them - tips, changes people make, sew alongs, tutorials, hacks.... There is a post on the designers blog showing the testers dresses here.
For other sewing -
This is the Moda Blockhead block - a 6" block.
And the 1880 Sampler Sew Along block - a 4" block. For this one I just picked out random fabrics without much thought, I think it shows but I am trying to step out of my comfort zone.
I spun a skein of yarn from some Merino fibre that I had dyed recently.
The yarn is about fingering/sock weight - 168g and 649m. I dyed and spun it for an Entrelac knitting project.
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