Made By A Fabricista: A Breezy Summer Birthday Dress

Happy birthday to me!! I try to sew a breezy, easy wearing summer dress every July in the loudest print I can find (like this one from a couple years ago.) This year I pulled out my BurdaStyle stash and found 5/2014 #117, the epitome of casual summer dresses!

I picked up this "palm trees at sunset" print rayon challis and it was on!! I cut a straight size 42. Normally I size up in the hip, but clearly this has a very full skirt and is totally accommodating to the pear shaped gal.

I added 1" to the bodice length, a normal alteration for me to work for me at 5'8"-- Burda's patterns are designed for someone who is 5'6". I excluded the pockets on the hips. Who doesn't love a pocket?!! Me. I find they add too much bulk exactly where I don't want it, so bye bye hip pockets.

I love those narrow, little straps. But I severely dislike the way Burda said I should sew them where you have to turn them right side out by pulling them through themselves, struggling, screaming profanity and nearly giving up 1/2 way through strap #1... blah blah blah. I just fold them in half a couple times, iron them and zip them through my sewing machine. I could care less if I see a line of stitches on the straps on this super casual maxi dress. If I had some cute ribbon, that would have been a great option for the straps and tie on the bodice, too.

Bras are an issue here, folks. A regular bra with straps can be okay-- if the straps are lined up right, they can blend in, appearing like another strap on the dress. But I opted to do a strapless bra. If you have a figure that can handle being bra-less, you're a lucky one.

I love the drape and weight of rayon challis, plus is sews up so well on both my regular machine and my serger. And it washes and dries nicely if you pull it out of the dryer ASAP-- no ironing for me. I don't iron ever, unless it's a special occasion or I am in the process sewing.

Hopefully I am eating cake and ice cream while you are reading this, not spilling my birthday yummies all over my sassy new dress.

Happy Summer Sewing!!

~Kathy

Kathy Sews

Made By A Fabricista: Wrapped up in Denim

Denim is definitely one of my favorite fabrics to wear during the fall, more than any other season. I'm sharing my first denim project for Fall 2023 in this months Fabricista feature because let's be real, its one of the most iconic fabrics ever, its always in style and most everything can be made with denim. This denim is Fabric Marts Deep Prussian Blue 100% Cotton Denim, and it was the perfect fabric for this project. I really enjoyed working with this denim. It had a little more drape and body than most denims that are stiff and don't provide much give, but of course that's the good thing about denim, it comes in so many ranges which makes it clearly the best fabric for any project. I created a hack for my most recent Fall KnowMe pattern, ME2054. But not only did I hack this pattern, but I did a pattern mash with my Spring KnowMe pattern ME2020, creating this cool, chic denim jumpsuit. Now, I've really gotten into creating jumpsuits more than ever. We all know h...

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Made By A Fabricista: Just Wear It Out!

Originally I wasn’t happy with my make this time around. I put it on fresh off the sewing machine and didn’t love how it fit. My elastic was slightly too narrow for what the pattern called for. I did end up putting a stitch to close up the v-neck on the top. I thought my sewing on the waistband looked sloppy and I looked kind of frumpy in the outfit. I was going to put the project down to fix later but decided to wear it out for some feedback from our web manager and one of the describers. I ended up pleasantly surprised! The fabric is super comfortable and I felt really good wearing it. All the things I didn’t like kind of melted away wearing it out. The flaws were so small that only I noticed them. I think it’s important to remember that while striving for perfect seams and flawless construction is good, a handmade garment doesn’t have to be perfect to be wearable. This isn’t the first time I’ve softened on a garment after wearing, and it certainly won’t be the last! The 100% c...

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