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

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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.