Friday, September 23, 2011

Sew Simple Dress: Now & Later

Simplicity has a new line of patterns named Sew Simple that include a pattern for one item. I like the idea, since the patterns are cheap, and I don't have to mess with patterns for something I don't like. (I hate getting a pattern for one item I really like and not liking the rest of the included patterns). I tend to like dresses with a '60s feel, and fell for this dress because it looked comfortable and cute:


You can find the pattern here at Simplicity's website. My only concern with the dress, was that it appeared a little short for my liking. I thought it would be okay since dresses tend to be long on me, and I decided not to shorten this dress for my height (more on that later).

Next was finding the right fabric. The pattern called for cottons, silky fabrics, and lightweight linens. I knew I wanted a cotton, but was debating between a solid or print. Then I found THE fabric in the cotton/quiting section:


Swirly, stained glass perfection in various purples, greys, and black and white. I think the print was also available other colorways (I don't remember though!), but I had to get the purple. Here is a closer look at the fabric:


Like I said, geometric perfection on fabric. The dress sewed up fast and easy. It was great not hand sewing anything (I tend to top stitch hems rather than do it by hand unless I need to for the fabric type). The band didn't need to be interfaced, which was also another (small) plus. I made one mistake by sewing an armband at 3/4" instead of 5/8" (oops!) and had to seam rip it and deal with some small holes in the printed fabric.

The biggest surprise came when I went to try on the dress. It was very comfortable, and somehow didn't make me look huge even though it's a loose style, but it hit right below my knees! I thought the envelope illustration made it look longer than the model picture, but when I held the pattern up to me, it seemed that it would hit mid thigh when finished. I chopped 2" off the hem so it would hit right above my knees, still longer than pictured. I'm very okay with it being longer than pictured, because I was a little concerned with it being too short.

Right now it feels very much like fall (first day!), but it's supposed to heat up a tad later next week. So, for now when it's a bit warmer, I'll wear the dress with some cute flip flops:


Here's a closer look at the flip flops. They have bows!


Later, when it cools down a bit, I'll wear it with tights and my grey knee high boots:



I'll layer it more when it really cools down with a long sleeve top and maybe a sweater cardigan. This dress was a breeze to sew, and it will be fun to wear! I will be doing another post soon, for a knitting project perfect for fall (and winter) weather.

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