Floral Frock!

It may look like all I've been doing round here lately is concoct ways to encourage others to sew their own clothes, whilst not doing too much very much of that myself. Well, do not be mislead by that assumption. Certainly my output has slowed a little compared to what I can be capable of, but stitchery magic has been happening, let me assure you.

Way back, like two weeks ago, I showed you the results of a speedy stretch fabric sewing session. Well, after that burst of energy, I lost my sewing mofo for a while. You know, when you have a pile of fabric, a pile of patterns and design ideas, but somehow they don't seem to marry up? Well, my boy gave be some sage advise about 'the way being closed' and why not to fight it, so got on with a bit of mending and altering, waiting for the 'way' to open up again. After about five days, I came home early because my last class had been cancelled only to discover all the mending and altering had earnt me enough sewing-karmic-credit and the 'way' was open! Yay! I did most of the ground work that evening, and finished it off in two short sessions over the following days, speeded by the fact that I could probably whip this pattern up with my eyes closed.

The result was this tunic dress. I used two small pieces of sheer floral printed fabric which I'd got for 50p from a bargain bin in a really nice fabric shop in London about three years ago. Plus I deployed the ubiquitous Simplicity 3835 (my 8th version) as a base and used my own drafted sleeve pattern which I have used for five of those eight versions now. I think the fullness of the my sleeve pattern gives the resulting garment a nice, and possibly more retro, silhouette, and the gathering at the bottom into the cuff band reflects the gathering of the garments neckline.

I have to admit, I'm in love with the result! (And it's not even nautical themed!.) I really liked this fabric ever since I bought it, but my adoration for it has grown since it's been in my possession, possibly because my growing adoration of navy (and of gold/mustard/orange for that matter now I come to think of it). I'm really pleased I didn't jump into using it before the stars alined and paired it with this pattern, it might have been an irreversible mistake and a waste. Why is it that the cheaper the fabric, somehow the more I want to do something awesome with it?

Anyway, this all leads to the obvious question, if this was completed well and truly within May, why didn't I wear this beloved new garment during Me-Made-May? Good question. The answer is this: it's very sheer and for modesty's sake I feel it needs to worn with jeggings with a vest underneath. The do have three me-mades vests, but none of them appropriate plain or subdued enough. I did consider trying it without a vest, but when I raised a concern that my belly would be firmly on show (not my favourite feature), my boyfriend told me not to worry, that no-one would be looking at my belly (!), I promptly scrapped that idea altogether!

Well, now Me-Made-May is over, and my plain black vest are permitted again. However, the weather has turned super-hot now, so this garment may need to remain unworn until it cools down, or I return to UK (I'm pretty sure it's the latter that will come first!). But that's ok. This fabric's been waiting in the wings for three years already, a couple more months won't hurt.