Amish Wedding - Take 3

 In the past several years, we've made friends with several Amish families in our community. And being invited to attend a wedding is kind of a big deal. For the first 2 weddings we went to, I was given a sample of brides fabric to make something to wear. For this one, I bought fabric and made the Vali Dress by Pattern Fantastique

I had made a shirt version last fall, which I love. But that also let me figure out the tricky construction of this bodice.

I bought 4 yards of a navy tonal poly fabric. I used my favorite pocket construction vs. the weirdly cut on pockets in the pattern. 

And because I had made it before, I knew from the top version what changes I wanted to make to the dress. 

Last year I started keeping a notebook of my sewing.  It's the first thing I've really stuck with and I'm glad I did, because my alteration notes are there.  

They say that I added 2" to the skirt length.  I was aiming for maxi and clearly hit midi, which is okay.  I cut a size 20 yoke, but then I cut the 26 sleeve and skirt.  I also put the skirt 2" off the fold for even more room.  What this essentially did was give me more gathers at the top of the sleeve and center front of the skirt.

This is a fun, flowy dress that definitely needs accessories to break it up. While I love how it looks on others, it's honestly not my favorite. All of that being said, this was the perfect dress to wear to an Amish wedding and I received a ton of compliments.

Pictures:  Carolyn from Diary of a Sewing Fanatic

Fabric: Poly something from Belmont Fabric, $6/yard. I had 4 yards

Pattern:  Vali Dress

Sewn:  January 2024

This IS My Dress

 Apparently I'm just a Style Arc Fangirl now.  I love my hope dresses, but even more than Hope - I love the Nova Midi Dress.  

It was love at first sight with my very first version, with the only changes to lower the neckline a bit more and add pockets. I wear both version of this dress weekly in the summer and I wear them with sweaters, tights and boots in the winter. 

JB and I try to take a nice vacation yearly. Since I'm not knitting as much as I once was, I try to bring a piece of fabric home from vacation. 

This past January we went to Cancun and while we had an incredibly relaxing time, I'm not in a big hurry to go back. The main reason why - it's just too far from everything. You really have to do all inclusive because there's no place to eat, except at the resort.

Anyway - I bought back this beautiful 3 meter piece of challis that was roughly $4 a meter.

There's not much to say about this dress. I mostly followed the pattern. I did lower the neckline, by 1.5" overall.

(geeze, we really need to pain that light post)

I also added pockets, I used lining fabric for the first pocket piece sewed onto the front, then same fabric for the pocket back. Due to the gathers, I did not stitch the pockets to the front skirt pieces, but I did stitch them to the waist seam.

For this dress, once I had attached each gather, I then serged the seam, pressed it up and then topstitched it. 

While I still don't like how I look in photos - please don't come at me. The menopausal weight is just weighing heavy on me currently. Do yourself a favor and find a friend who makes you feel beautiful when they take your photo.  All photos in this post were taken by Carolyn.

I am currently evaluating all of the challis in my fabric closet for more Novas. And I really, really want to make one in graduating sizes of gingham.  

Donny Dress Hack

 As so many of my projects do, I was inspired by a dress I saw on Instragram.  This time it was thats.sew.sandy - and she hacked the Friday Pattern Co. Donny Shirt into a dress.  Yep!  I can totally get behind that. I waiting until FPC had their sale and then sent the pattern off to Blue Cup Shop for printing. 

 I'm not sure what I was working on when the pattern arrived, but I didn't get to it right away.  Although I did pull fabric and put it with the pattern immediately.

 The fabric is a poly cotton, mostly cotton based on the wrinkling, that I most likely got at an Amish shop. There was no identifiers on the fabric.  I've been 'collecting' gingham and plaid for about 18 months now, and I thought this would be a great Summer dress. 

 It wasn't until I was cutting, that I realized the plaid was uneven and it took a lot more brain power to match the stripes across the center front.  If you look close, you'll see I came close, but it's not quite right.  But who's looking that close?!

 I also knew I wanted to add piping. I didn't have enough small cording in my collection, so I made a quick trip to Cedar Lane and bought 10 yards of piping, which I took apart for the cord.  I pulled a green polka dot cotton from the closet and used that.  It matches the green in the stripes perfectly.

I traced the size XL and made all my "standard" adjustments, which is a 3/4" sway back adjustment. I traced the pattern with a 7" finished side seam for the bodice and I think it's the perfect place for the waist to hit me. For future makes, I'll add about an inch to the center front so that seam hangs even.

 

I took great pains to match the plaid at the side seams and added a bias cut panel on the back pocket piece. 

 The skirt is just 2 lengths of fabric gathered into the waist.  Pockets added to the front. Oh, I don't know what I was thinking, but I originally cut the skirt pieces at 37". I mean, how tall do I think I am?!  Of course the inspo dress was more tea length than knee, but . . . 

 I'm curious, do you consider adding a gathered rectangle to a shirt pattern a hack? I'd love to know what you think a hack is.  

Saved By A Friend

 Actually, this entire dress is thanks to a friend.  

I had a very pretty piece of green linen in my fabric closet.  I didn't remember where it came from when I originally pulled it.  Because, honestly, for years I was *afraid* of linen.  

I love my first linen hope so much, that I decided to make another.  I asked Carolyn which piece of fabric I should use and she suggested one that I wasn't quite ready to sew up.  So, I pulled this beautiful piece from the shelve.

But here's where everything went sideways.  I have this really bad habit of cutting out just the bodice and then setting it aside.  Then when I'm ready to start, I'll construct the bodice and figure out how long the skirt can be when I get there.

Well, once I got started on it, there wasn't enough fabric for a skirt of any length at all!  OH No! At this point, I sent some photos to Carolyn (which is a pretty regular part of any garment I'm making) and she commented, 'You're using my fabric!' Well, that answered the where the fabric came from.  Carolyn most likely gifted it to me to convince me to use linen.

I asked if she had more, and she did.  It was a piece where she had to purchase lots and had given away 3 yard pieces.  Way back in December, I took a day when I wasn't busy and I drove out to visit with her.  The visit was the reason for the day trip to New Jersey and the rest of the fabric was a bonus!

There are really no changes to this dress.  I had previously lowered the neckline and for this version I added inch wide elastic in the sleeve hems.

And that's about all there is to say about this Style Arc Hope Woven Dress.  The pattern is a gem.  If you haven't made it, you really should consider it!

The Dress that Wasn't

 Okay - seriously, how do y'all come up with titles for your blog posts?  I'm so boring!  

Anyway, Way back during 2020 if my memory serves me, I bought a beautiful burgundy floral with every intention of making another myosotis maxi dress.  BUT then I remembered that as much as I love a good maxi, they really aren't practical for running up and down stairs and crawling around cleaning bathrooms.  So I decided to make a knee-length dress.  You know, the one on the pattern envelope! 

In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with this dress.  It has the modified to be more open neckline and I've moved the shoulders forward. I went completely collarless and added short sleeves.

I just don't like it.  It feels blah.  and heavy.  It most likely would have been epic as a sleeveless maxi - but that isn't what I made.

So, the next step is to use my vinyl cutter to put a size label at the back neckline and put it in the giveaway pile. I just don't see myself wearing this dress.  In fact, I even gave away the extra fabric already.

Photos by Carolyn taken at Carriage Corner Bed & Breakfast ;)

Sharing them all, because my friend makes me look good!

Gingham Anyone?

 If you've made McCall's 7969, there's a good chance you've made it out of gingham.  I mean, I see many gingham versions when I scroll the hashtag on instagram.  And ever since retiring my all time favorite gingham ESP dress, I've needed a new gingham dress in my life. So, it was a no brainer to make another #M7969, just like the first.

The only thing I did different in this dress was to add pockets.  And omit a snap at the cross-over front, but I think I'm gonna add that. 

For the hem on this one, I cut 4" wide bias strips from the scraps.  I sewed them all together. Then, I sewed the bottom of the dress and the bias strip together, with the right side of the bias against the wrong side of the dress.  This was the seam was enclosed.  Sewed, serged, pressed and then top stitched the top of the band down.  I also stitched around the bottom. 

This dress is soo easy to wear.  I bought the fabric at Belmont Fabrics.  It was in their precut section and it's a poly blend of some sort, but it managed to stay cool in the heat and humidity of our corner of Pennyslvania.

Carolyn and I both wore McCalls 7969 when we took a roadtrip up to see Julie at FabricMart.  Isn't it great how different fabrics make the same pattern so unique? 

Seriously, find yourself a friend like Carolyn to take your photos.  I promise you won't be made about it. 

Have you made McCall's 7969 yet?  If not, what's stopping you?

The Dress that Started it All

 Well, that's not exactly true. My Hope Dress started my love for billowy dresses with amazing sleeves. But this one comes in a close second.  I have had Jeanette's Hope saved in my IG account for years! Since 2020 when she made it. While many since have stopped my scroll, this was the first one that did.

I had a pretty piece of "silky" fabric bought at JoAnn's that I was never sure what I was going to do with it. I had originally cut this dress out in the fall of 2021, right after I made Hope, thinking the colors would make a great Thanksgiving dress. Then I added it to the vacation sewing list. And finally, started it in last summer 2022 and finished during a #CarriageCornerSewCamp.

This dress just always seems to work. It's fun to wear and I always get compliments on it. 

For this first version, I most likely made the XL size. Of course, there are NO NOTES anywhere. I had 2 different journals that I sporadically used and nothing. Based on my measurements I would have started with the XL and made no alterations. Can someone please tell me what my aversion to writing the pattern size on the traced version is?!

I had seen enough versions on Instagram to know that the wrap front can often be very low.  So after making the bodice, I tried it on, pinned it where I wanted the 2 pieces to overlap and added a snap. The only thing I wish I had done?  Add pockets!

The silky fabric means that the dress is flowing and has a ton of volume but actually lays fairly close to my body. It's also really cool, especially in the hot, humid Pennsylvania summer. I need to make more dresses with this fabric.

 Per the instructions, which I so rarely follow, I interfaced all the bands and hand sewed them on the inside.  I don't really mind handsewing, so not an issue.

For the skirt, again I measured my Hope. The waist seam on the hope falls in about the same place as the waist on this dress.  So with that in mind, I cut roughly 2 lengths of fabric by 39". Sewed the side seams, gathered to the waist and then tried it on for hemming.  After serging the raw edge, I turned up 1/2" then 2" and it's pretty perfect!  

I have already made another and I know it won't be the last one I make. Have you made McCall's 7969 yet? If not, what's stopping you?

Once again, many thanks to Carolyn for not only making beautiful versions of this pattern that made me want to make it, but for making me look beautiful wearing it.