Made by a Fabricista: Spring is for Shirtdress

I love shirt dresses! My pattern collection reflects this (I may or may not have eight shirt dress patterns) but somehow my closet does not. I have just two DIY shirt dresses (Mimi G's Katie dress and Simplicity 8546) and maybe two RTW versions. So it's high time that I added some to my wardrobe.

This polyester blouse weight twill by Milly has the perfect weight and drape for a relaxed shirt dress. If you prefer a more structured look, stick to a cotton shirting or light weight sateen. I loved this fabric and print so much that I grabbed both colorways. Unfortunately this fabric is sold out, but you can browse other shirtings and blouse weight fabrics here.

This fabric has a somewhat slinky feel, but isn't truly slippery. There's also a slight sheen without being shiny like a satin. It was easy to cut and sew, but I did get a few snags when pinning so make sure you use sharp pins and a fresh machine needle. I serged my pieces before assembling the pattern because as most twills it is also prone to fraying.

I chose to sew McCall's 8030 mainly because it's the newest shirt dress pattern in my collection. Also because it was a more relaxed style with dolman sleeves. In my opinion details like the sleeve cuff and collar would be lost due to the graphic nature of the print so I chose view B. I did change the hem because I love the shirttail hem of view A, but prefer the length of view B length. To make this modification I traced the curve of hemline the view A onto copy paper and then traced that curve to the hemline of view B.

I love sewing firsts and this is my first D ring belt! There's nothing difficult about it. It's basically constructed the same as any tie belt, but you need to interface and loop one end around two d-rings and stitch.

I am in love with the dress and so happy that I still have the yellow version to use for another project. Can't wait to end social distancing so I have somewhere to wear it too. Stay safe!

See you next month,

Tiffany of TipStitched

#stayhomeandsew

Made By A Fabricista: A Mother's Day Treat

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be back for my second blog !!! Every Mother’s Day I treat myself to a new dress (ok… shoes, too!) and my husband treats me to brunch. For inspiration this year, I watched several runway shows online. I liked the comfortable laid-back look, but not the Little House on the Prairie or tiered styles. I was attracted to the floaty, loose fitting maxi-length tent dresses with big sleeves; they reminded me of the 1980s. The silk dresses I liked cost thousands; the discounted ones were priced over $500. No way was I going to pay that much for a dress, especially when I can sew it for less! Besides, the colors were not for me. I decided to make a similar dress; Vogue V1699 maxi was the right silhouette. I searched the Fabric Mart website for several days until one day, THE fabric came at me - a silk and lycra stretch Charmeuse in geometric print of black, white, and pale yellow! The colors were energizing, bright, and happy. It had been awhile since I

Made by a Fabricista: Living in Linen

As the warmer weather approaches linen is probably one of my favorite fabrics that I feel often gets overlooked. It drapes well, it’s cool and comfortable and you can make almost anything out of it. For this feature I used 4 yards of designer linen to create a vintage inspired look. I had an image of a vintage Butterick pattern from the 60’s that I had saved on my Pinterest board. I love the versatility and easiness of the style. Since I did not have access to the pattern, I used similar patterns from my stash along with my own pattern drafting to replicate the style. In the end I created 4 pieces total allowing for interchangeable looks. To create the skirt I used McCall’s pattern 7981 which is almost I identical to the on featured on the vintage pattern. The shorts pattern was McCall’s 7962. They are perfect to wear underneath the skirt for a layered look or by themselves. The bralette was self-drafted, I took my basic bodice sloper and moved the dart to create a center fron

Made by a Fabricista: A Fruity Spring Dress

After a year in yoga pants and sweatshirts all I want to sew are dresses. Big, over the top, wonderfully floaty dresses. I loved this fruity chiffon border print from the moment I saw it and knew it had to become one such dress. Much like florals, I absolutely adore fruit prints on fabric, so to find a fabric with both was a real treat. Chiffon is one of those fabrics a lot of sewists seem to be afraid of, and I don't blame them, it can be very tricky to work with. However, I strongly believe in doing difficult things, because the end is so worth it and you have the chance to learn new things along the way. I've only sewn with chiffon a couple times before so I decided to go with a pattern that didn't have any tricky closures and or require a lot of careful fitting. I ended up settling on Simplicity 8872, view A – a maxi length pullover dress with a tiered skirt and cap sleeves. I started with a small bust adjustment (SBA). I do this with nearly every pattern because I tend

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