Made by a Fabricista: Stasia Dress, Two Ways

Hello from the Sunshine State! I am so excited to be a Fabricista! This is pretty intimidating for a self-taught, intuitive, and impatient sewist like me! In this post, I will be sharing my process to make two very different versions of a dress.

Anytime I use a pattern, I make changes along the way. I know I am supposed to copy, measure, be precise, but I tend to just cut, sew, and improvise. After browsing through all the Fabric Mart patterns section, I chose the Stasia Dress, by Sew Liberated. It’s exactly my style, simple and versatile, and described as: “A knit dress that feels like wearing secret pajamas.” Who wouldn’t want that?"

I chose a floral multicolored jersey knit, thinking it would look good for an informal, bohemian, long dress. The pattern comes with a booklet and offers multiple options: tank top, short dress, maxi dress, sleeveless, or with short or long sleeves, with or without pockets. One of the first tips is that “Your fabric choice will have a huge impact on the fit”. So true!

The booklet advised making a sample dress with muslin. Instead, I made one with some Ponte Knit, also from Fabric mart, from a few seasons ago. This Ponte Knit with Rayon/Nylon/Lycra is heavier and stiffer than polyester blends I’ve used before, but it would work fine for my sample, and I had just enough to make a short sleeveless dress.

I love the vintage look of the finished dress, with a fuller skirt and some drape. I made my best to follow all the instructions in the booklet, which is a first for me! My learnings from this first try at the Stasia Dress with a Ponte Knit:

- Try out your needles! The Singer Ball Point 90/14 worked best for me (third option on the picture) since other needles kept skipping stitches.

- Pockets in the original pattern were way too big for me (see picture). I ended up modifying them.

This trial made me realize a few things for my second version, with the lighter knit fabric:

- The Stasia pattern skirt is made of four pieces, but I did not want to cut out the floral pattern on this fabric. So, I made the skirt with just two pieces (front and back, no middle seam). I subtracted 1 cm from the center edge of the skirt pattern to compensate for the lack of a middle seam.

- I used the original bodice pattern but made a column skirt with a side opening, rather than the original A-Line skirt. I still used the top of the Stasia skirt pattern to get a precise fit with the bodice pieces and copied the skirt’s length and side opening from another dress.

- I skipped the pockets in this version because this fabric was too thin and light, pockets may have looked bulky.

- Finally, I put a black rib knit on the neckband, as a nice finishing touch to the dress.

I love my long dress! The fabric is so lightweight, very comfortable in the Floridian heat. The pattern and colors are bright, they go well with the Art-Deco vibes of Miami Beach. Another plus: this Polyester/Lycra blend does not wrinkle!

Along the way, my improvisation skills got the best of me, as usual. Are patterns just the starting point for everyone? In any case, I would advise you to take advantage of Fabric Mart’s great daily offers to buy different fabrics and make your sample dresses. No offense to more experienced and perfectionist sewists: why making muslin samples, if you can try and sew the “the real thing” with some well-priced fabric? At worst, you will learn some lessons. At best, you will have two garments instead of one!

INES | @bynunis

Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following category: JERSEY KNIT & PONTE KNIT
You can also shop our collection of Sew Liberated patterns HERE.

Made By A Fabricista: A Tipsy Martini Transitional Three Piece Look

Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon with Sharon Sews with my latest Fabricista make – a three-piece set I can wear as the weather transitions to fall here in Texas. It may look like a summer outfit but there will days filled with sunshine and high temps well into November. At first glance it looks like a nice, lightweight jacket, top and pants. But look closer – it’s sewn from the designer Tipsy Martini cotton sateen that was originally used by the designer for a pajama set. Now I could have sewn myself a pair of pajamas using the Closet Core Carolyn Pajama pattern (available at Fabric Mart) and replicated the designer pajamas. But if I had gone that route the only ones who would have seen this adorable kitschy fabric would be my family. This print is much too cute to hide out at home. This Tipsy Martini cotton sateen fabric was lovely to sew. I used black thread, an 80/12 universal needle, and Palmer/Pletsch Perfect Fuse Medium interfacing (link here). Note that this is a rayon fu

Made By A Fabricista: Hooray for Cozy Fall Sews!

Greetings, all! I am in such high spirits with the best-of-all-seasons just beginning and change is finally in the air. I always rejoice when the sweatiest time of the year passes and we can all take a deep breath and gear up for cozier times. Neighborhood Patterns is a new-to-me designer, and I came across them on Instagram in late summer and fell in love with the Plain Jane Skirt. This is such a simple A-line skirt, but with nice details like large inseam pockets and an optional drawstring, and though I’m sure I could draft this style myself, the appeal of having it all done for me was too tempting to pass up. A sew such as this is a lovely palate-cleanser and this was the first project I sewed after returning from a cross-country trip. Perfect! The gorgeous plaid flannel is exactly what I want to be wearing in the fall. The fabric is SO soft and a pleasure to snuggle up in. Because flannel does not have much body and is prone to stretching or shifting with all its mechanical give,

Made By A Fabricista: Quilted Jacket Chronicle

What do you get when mixing the best things about apparel sewing and machine quilting? A quilted jacket! It's funny that I elected to sew myself a quilted jacket for this Fabricista blog because I don't consider myself much of a quilter. I can count on my hands the number of quilted projects I've made over the last few years. While I fully appreciate the end product of quilting, I don't normally gravitate toward starting quilting projects. That's why making a quilted jacket is a new and exciting project for me! It gives me the fun of making a quilt on a much smaller scale. If you are an avid apparel sewist and are new to quilting, this is the perfect project to take for a quilting test drive! For my quilted jacket, I used the Seamwork Easton Jacket pattern. I decided to stick with a solid-colored fabric for the jacket's exterior and ordered 4 yards of Dark Umber Brown Lycra Stretch Canvas Suiting from the Fabric Mart website. I wanted a contrasting color for the

Fabric Mart Fabricistas

Search This Blog