Made By A Fabricista: Lilly Pulitzer Inspired Dress

Hello again, Fabricistas!! It's been a while since I blogged last, but I've been lurking about and occasionally sewing. While doing my daily (yes, daily, I am not shy to admit it!) rundown of Fabric Mart's new arrivals, I fell in love with this cotton pique lighthouse print fabric instantly. I did some research for inspiration and quickly figured out this material was for a Lilly Pulizter shift dress in 2014-- I love the Designer Fabric section... I've picked up some sweet designer surprises before in that category. It was not labeled with the designer's name, but I plugged into my search engine a few descriptive words about the print and up came a list of fashion bloggers wearing the original dress and then again on the designer's website.

I made a version of the Lilly Pulitzer Delia Shift dress to fit my figure with a reprinted vintage 1960's pattern, Simplicity 1609. I used View C and cut a 16 bodice and made the skirt much more of an a-line, somewhere about a 20 or so. I also tweaked the overall fit on the side and back center seams, adding here and removing there slightly to fit my shape better.

I originally added my usual 1" on to the length of the bodice, but had to remove it after making my muslin up. I did add an inch to the hemline afterwards.

I have sewn up limited numbers of vintage patterns, and every time I've found that the upper back is monstrously humongous!! I had to remove about 3" total from the front and back upper bodice in total. You can see the before and after on my red and white polka dot muslin below. I also removed the front center seam to keep the print one continuous piece. With that, I added a couple darts at the upper neckline. I extended the back sleeve opening by about 5/8" for my wider back shoulder.

With such simple clean lines, I wanted to get the finishes super nice! I added a lining, it's a lightweight 100% cotton. I used an invisible zipper and of course hand sewed a blind hem.

Overall I'm really pleased with this sweet little dress. I know a die-hard Lilly Pulizter aficionado will be able quickly see it's not an original without the special imprinted hem tape that bares the designer's name... and the fact that my name is sewn in it! Now I'm totally ready for my weekend at the beach, which is exactly where I will be when this blog post goes live!

Happy Sewing!!

~Kathy
Kathy Sews

Made by a Fabricista: Summer Dreaming

Summer Dreaming | A Tropical Faux Jumpsuit and Sheer Ruffled Duster I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of spring with its promise of warmer temps and lots of sunshine. Anyone else? With that in mind, I choose to showcase two of the fabulous shirting fabrics offered by Fabric Mart Fabrics. The combination of the semi-sheer shirting with the tropical print shirting has me dreaming of walking along a beach with the waves gently lapping against the shoreline and the sun shining brightly down on me. The coral shirting is a beautiful piece of fabric with its hint of shimmer and tiny stripes alternating between opaque and sheer. I choose to sew a tiered maxi-length button front dress using Simplicity 9114. Because of the semi-sheer nature of the fabric, I will wear this as a duster. If you’ve shied away from sewing sheers for fear of the difficulties you may face, this type of fabric is the perfect way to start! Because it is a cotton/nylon blend it was easier to sew than a silky chiffon

Made by a Fabricista: Coming Up Roses

From vision to reality. As we are headed into April, I can feel the spring breeze on the horizon and with that means fun time outside, be it eating brunch with friends on a terrace or going to the park on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I knew that I wanted to add some bright fun color into my spring wardrobe that I really haven't used and over a year. I had been eyeing this beautiful red stripe shirting with blue roses fabric for a while not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it but knew that I was super drawn to it. Once I picked it up, I decided to sketch out my ideas and went through my pattern stash to see what I could come up with. For this project I used a vintage pattern See & Sew 5549. It’s actually for a long sleep shirt that I then made some alterations to. I lengthened the sleeves by an inch and extended the side slits up to the waistline because I knew that I would mostly be wearing this shirt open. Also since I planned to wear it mostly open I only did

Made by a Fabricista: Use Those Views! Sewing the Grainline Studio Willow Tank

Spring is here! Honestly, I'm still bundled up in sweatshirts most of the time, but the afternoons are getting glorious and warm and just a t-shirt will suffice for a couple of hours in the warmth on some days so I know the overwhelming heat is not far off. I love planning and organizing in all facets of my life, and spring garments for my wardrobe are on my mind. Naturally tanks are at the forefront of my strategizing for comfort in hot weather and I wanted to branch out with a little something new. Anyone else have patterns that they've been eyeing for ages but haven't pulled the trigger? Who knows why I've kept putting off sewing the Grainline Studio Willow Tank . I've long admired the simple lines and I'm absolutely sure it would fit into my overall style. I've even tried drafting something similar myself with varying degrees of success, but never quite on the nose. A simple tank can go with just about everything from jeans to skirts to a high-waisted a

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