Skip to main content

Made By A Fabricista: Pink Raspberry Frosting


Pink raspberry frosting on a cake is delicious, but this pink raspberry frosting isn't dessert. I'm talking about sewing frosting! Have you heard of "sewing cake vs. sewing frosting?" If you're new to this concept, cake sews are your clothing and wardrobe staples. While frosting sews are less practical, super fun projects to make and wear.

When I saw this gorgeous raspberry pink swiss dot chiffon on Fabric Mart's website I knew I had to sew some frosting! I spent a good amount of time in 2023 sewing cake for my newly postpartum body. Since nothing fit the same way, and I had very few nursing-friendly clothes, I made a lot of basics. To start 2024, I figured why not sew some frosting and make a fun date night dress?

Armed with 4 yards of raspberry pink Swiss dot chiffon and 3 yards of magenta polyester lining, I set out to make a special dress. I knew I wanted to make a dress with sheer bishop sleeves to show off the chiffon, but it wasn't until I saw the new Seamwork Frankie dress that I knew it was the perfect pattern for my vision. The Seamwork Frankie dress comes in two versions, the original pattern featuring a gathered skirt, and the bonus pattern with a 6-gore skirt. I much preferred the 6-panel skirt because of the slim A-line silhouette.

I cut out a size 4 bodice and graded out to a size 10 for the waist and hip to accommodate my measurements. I wanted the entire dress to be lined so I cut everything in both fabrics, except for the bishop sleeves which I wanted to be sheer.

If you make a Seamwork Frankie, I highly recommend making a toile at least for the bodice and sleeve. Unfortunately, I did not sew a toile due to time constraints and lack of similar fabric, which I later regretted.

After cutting, I serged the chiffon and the lining bodice pieces together. This stopped the fraying of the chiffon and gave me one solid piece of fabric to work with for the rest of the bodice assembly. For the skirt, I wanted the lining to be free from the chiffon, so I attached all of the lining fabric pieces to make the skirt and then repeated this with the chiffon fabric. The two-layer skirt was then basted at the waist seam and attached to the bodice.

Since I skipped the toile process, I periodically tried things on to make sure the fit was correct. Since the sleeve insertion process is the very last step of the pattern, I had the whole dress fitting perfectly without the sleeves. Once the sleeves were inserted, something went wrong. The top of the sleeve bicep was so tight I felt like my arm was losing circulation. When I tried to get out of the dress, I got stuck in it! After a few moments of sheer panic and thoughts of "what if I have to cut myself out of the dress," I realized that my mother-in-law was visiting that day and she could help me get out of it. Thank goodness she was there because she was able to free me from the dress!

Since the bodice and the skirt fit perfectly without the sleeves, I knew I had to do something to try to fix the sleeves that didn't involve having to remake the entire bodice. After considering my options, I settled on letting out a few of the bodice seams around the arm scye.

The pattern includes a 5/8ths inch seam allowance, so thankfully I had some wiggle room. First, I dropped the back yoke seam and stitched it at 3/8ths inch. Next, I let out the underarm seam to 3/8ths inch and pressed everything well. This gave me some much-needed room in the arm scye.

After letting out the seams, I reinserted the original sleeve with a basting stitch to check the fit. The dress was still way too tight in the bicep area and I got stuck again. I was on the right track, but the sleeve was still so uncomfortable I knew further measures would need to be taken.


Thankfully, I had some extra chiffon fabric. My next idea was to cut a whole new sleeve in a larger size and to widen the arm scye curve of the sleeve a bit. I cut out new sleeves in a size 10 and widened the arm scye curve just a little bit too. Next, I paid extra careful attention to the pattern instructions, just in case I had missed something before during the sleeve insertion. I basted the new sleeve into the dress, tried it on, and slipped out of it with ease! I always struggle to get in and out of dresses with side zippers, but this time I could do it myself, so I counted that a success.

Finally, I had sleeves and a dress that fit correctly so I finalized the sleeve seams. Most people would have expected that working with the chiffon fabric would have been the hardest part of making this dress, but those sleeves gave me a run for my money! The chiffon was a cakewalk!

I'm really happy with how my first make of 2024 turned out and I'm excited to wear my new pink raspberry chiffon frosting dress as soon as I can! Despite my fitting set backs, I hope I've inspired you to stock up on some beautiful Fabric Mart fabric and sew yourself a little frosting this year!

SHAINA   @shaina_sews 


Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: CHIFFON.

Comments

  1. Gorgeous! Love that fabric and pattern choice. It fits you nice too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perfect for Valentine’s Day, and the fit is spectacular! Way to go with chiffon, it is a tough sew.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment! All comments are reviewed before posting to help us eliminate spam. Your comment will be posted within 24 hours.

Popular Posts You Might Like

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