Made by a Fabricista: Mama and Me Voile

Hello my fabric loving friends!  I can't even believe it's almost August...where has this Summer gone?

Today I bring you some Mama and Me goodness, sewn up from some delicious cotton voile.  Nothing says Summer dressing comfort quite like voile, right?  This particular print has sold out, but I'd mostly definitely have chosen this voile in its stead.

For my sweet little Peaches, 15 months, I made a Violette Field Threads London dress.  This is a free (freeeeeee! NAYY) pattern that starts at 2T.

Peaches is still a bit smaller and shorter than that smallest size, so I took in the yoke a total of 1/4" on the pattern (which is cut on the fold twice, making the dress 1" smaller around in total) and shortened the main skirt 1", and the skirt ruffle 1/2".  There is also a template to cut the armscye, which I shortened vertically by 1/4".

I ended up with somewhere around a 12-18 month size with all of these adjustments. I think it worked pretty well!

It was my first time sewing this pattern up, and it was pretty straightforward, but it was a lot of futzing around.  So much bias tape and gathering.  It was a fairly slow slog, but I just love the swirly boho outcome.

To make things easier, I used a bias tape maker (the pattern calls for 2" strips, but to use with a 1" bias tape maker I'll definitely cut them 1 7/8" in the future), and finished the bottom ruffle with a rolled hem foot.

For me, I made a Sew House Seven Mississippi Avenue Dress.  Fabric Mart does sell this awesome pattern company's wares, but I didn't see this particular pattern in their inventory at the moment.

I was afraid of how sheer this fabric would be in my own dress, so I underlined it with a light cotton/silk woven I had in my stash.  I'd planned to use this rayon Bemberg lining (a go to for linings:  love Bemberg!) but changed my plan after seeing it with the voile; I wanted to make this sew as simple as possible and the drape of the Bemberg was going to add some swishy complications.  I'd definitely recommend any solid voile if you need something to line this dress!

I made a wearable muslin before this dress, which was a size 8 with a 1" full bust adjustment and 1/2" length added to the bodice.  Weirdly, that version had a very small armsyce which I will need to redo - it's very up in my armpit and uncomfortable.  This was very curious, as most reviews I've read have said the armscye runs large.  The rest of the top fit a bit smaller than I usually like a in a woven garment, so I resolved to make some changes in this final dress.

For this iteration, I made a size 10 with a 1/2" full bust adjustment, turning the dart legs into gathers at the waistline.  I also left the length of the bodice as is and scooped out the armscye about 1/2".  As you can see, I also decided to forgo the shoulder ties.  I'm very happy with all of these changes and the final dress.

The only thing I'm not so happy with is my brain fart of cutting the neck and arm bias tape 2 1/2" instead of 2".  It's folded in half and sewn with a 3/8" seam, which means I still have 7/8" of tape hanging on the inside of the garment, which is never going to work well around curves.  Honestly, if I make this again I will cut the strips 1 3/4" instead: after sewing on, they have you trim everything to 1/4" and then there would still be 1/2" to turn over.  Plenty!

So here we are, ready to take on the rest of the Summer in our Mama and Me (or Mommy and Me, as it were) frocks.  What are you planning to sew for the rest of your Summer?

Until Next time...

Jess

The Sometimes Sewist