Made by a Fabricista: Flirty Floral Denim Dress

Can you believe how fast summer is flying by? It's almost Labor Day! So despite the fact that it has been insanely hot here in the southeast and will likely stay that way weeks after the "unofficial end of summer" it's almost time for me to start sewing for fall.

If you follow me either here or on my blog you know that dresses are my favorite thing to sew and I sew them year round. Simplicity 8264 is a great transition dress due to it's sleeve length and recommendation of heavier wovens such as brocade, damask, sateen or denim.

When I saw this floral printed denim I just had to have it for this dress. Unfortunately it is sold out, I almost didn't get any myself. There aren't any other printed denims available but there are several floral brocades (here) that I think will work nicely.

On to the dress itself...the dress came together easily thanks to clear instructions. My least favorite part was creating the neck and sleeve ruffle. But that is to be expected as I hate gathering as a general rule. Thankfully, there is not much fabric to gather here so it wasn't that bad. Everything else was a breeze.

I graded from a size 16 at the neck and shoulders to an 18 from the bust to hip. My bust was closer to the 16 measurements, but my biceps tend to need a tad more room in the sleeve so I went with size 18 armhole. In the end, the dress was a tad to boxy in the middle for me. My first thought was to add a fish-eye dart to each back piece, but I have yet to draft those. I ended up simply taking in the sides grading from almost nothing at the underarm to about 3/4" to at the waist back out to the hip. I am happy with the fit, but I will be looking for information on how to draft my own fish-eye darts for future projects.

I was a tad concerned about the height of the neck ruffle, but it didn't bother me while shooting the photos even though I'm not a huge fan of anything around my neck. The dress calls for an invisible zipper, but depending on the fabric used I think an exposed decorative zipper would work great.

Though a little too hot to wear now, I'll be wearing this dress come fall and even into earlier winter over tights. Have you started your fall sewing yet?

I won't be posting during the Fabricista Challenge, but you can keep up with my lastest projects on my blog, TipStitched.

See you in October!!!

Made By A Fabricista | Chasing Time: My White Rabbit-Inspired Look for Atlanta Frocktails

For this year’s Atlanta Frocktails, I found myself captivated by a character who’s been quietly tugging at my imagination for years—the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. There’s something so relatable about his frantic energy, always checking the time, always running late. While he’s worried about being on time, I’m usually calculating how late I can be and still technically arrive on time. Spoiler: I’m often wrong. It’s a cycle of procrastination and anxiety that I know all too well. So when I imagined my look for Frocktails, I thought—why not honor the White Rabbit? After all, time has been chasing me too. But this look isn’t just about Wonderland whimsy. It’s also deeply inspired by this year’s Met Gala theme, Tailored for You, which includes a focus on Black Dandyism—a celebration of Black elegance, intellect, and expressive style. I’ve been obsessed with this theme since it was announced. As a Black creative, I find it powerful and moving to see style used as a way to reclaim...

Made By A Fabricista: Getting into the Spirit of Summer

I'm not gonna lie y'all, I had a completely different project I wanted to do, but that's gonna take more time, and I wanted something cute, comfy and fun to wear for my birthday on the 19th. When I saw this goldenrod & off white linen jacquard , I thought it looked a bit like the design on a Koroks body, especially Makar from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker! I started with the bodice from the free Elderberry dress pattern from Mood, but deviated for the skirt, it felt a little plain of a design, and I had scraps of a Korok fabric that I knew would be a nice accent with some cut out pockets. I've made these pockets once before, deciding the cut out was based on aligning with the seam on the bodice for how far in, and as for how low depended on where I wanted the pouch of the pocket to start. From there I cut the visible part of the pocket, making sure to match the curve of the waist and following the line of the side seams of the skirt, as well as cutting a facing to...

Made By A Fabricista: A Pink Suiting Set for Spring

Spring is here! So is my first blog of the year. I had some inspiration with this one. I saw a picture on an Instagram profile and wanted to make my own. Now, my version ended up a little different, but overall, I really love it. However, I still want to recreate the inspiration pic at some point. For this look, I chose a cotton candy pink double weave suiting . It is soft, has a semi-textured hand, and has a crepe weave on the wrong side. The fabric does have some stretch to it. I absolutely love the color and feel of this fabric. This is a suiting fabric with the softness of a knit. The thing I do not like about it though is it snags. So, I had to be careful using pins and seam ripping to prevent snags. I had the Fernanda Vicki Sews pattern in mind but once I downloaded the instructions and saw how many pieces were involved, I switched to a different pattern, lol. I ended up making the Riana Blazer. It has a semi-fitted blazer with a straight silhouette. A belt and belt loops that yo...

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