Made By A Fabricista: Sewing for Spring in the Dead of Winter

Hello Everyone.  I hope you are enjoying your new year so far. I know most of us are smack dab in the middle of winter, but I can’t help but think of springtime. It is definitely one of my favorite times of year. I would say season, but we don’t really have seasons in South Florida. It is either hot or kind of cold but not really spring as we all know it.  For me, spring is when I know we won’t get any more cold weather. At any rate, I knew I wanted to make something for the springtime and that’s just what I did.

When I started looking for fabric for my make, I looked for something with color.  The shirting fabric was on sale at the and I came across this gorgeous green shirting with leaves and I fell in love! The name of the fabric is Wild Forest Green/Royal Green 100% Polyester Fern Print Performance Woven Shirting - Robert Kaufman - 57W and it is everything! I don’t think I’ve ever loved fabric as much as this one. It feels so soft and has amazing drape. The print and color is very vibrant and it washes very well. I think my favorite part is that although the fabric is light weight, it is not see through. The back of the fabric is blue and helps with not making it see through. I’ve never really seen that before and thought it was clever.

The pattern I chose to use for this gorgeous fabric is Know Me 2016 by Beaute J’adore.  I love Nikki’s style and she can do absolutely nothing wrong in my book.  Nikki always comes through with a puffy sleeve, and this dress gave just that. There are 2 views to this dress, a long and shorter version. It also has 2 different sleeve options. You can choose to make the long sleeve version or the short sleeve. I originally cut out the long sleeve version but decided at the last minute to make the short sleeves and I love them. I think they have the right amount of puffiness. I chose to make view B, which is the shorter version. Based on my body measurements, I went with a size 22 and I didn’t have to make any pattern modifications. 

I really like how the bodice fits and I think I’m going to make it into my bodice sloper.  Did you know that you don’t have to necessarily draft a sloper? You can make a sloper from any pattern that you feel fits you well. This dress has bust darts and back darts. The only thing missing are the waist front darts, which can easily be added. 

Another thing that I enjoyed about this pattern is the gathering. I know that might sound crazy to some, but this fabric is so amazing that I was able to easily make the gathers. Sometimes, (most times) fabric can be a bit thick and can make it very difficult to make gathers. The instructions mention to make your gathers in sections, and I was happy to see that because that’s how I do it.  Doing it by sections helps just in case you pop your thread while pulling it to make the gathers. If that has ever happened to you, then you know exactly what I mean. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed my green fern dress because I certainly did. I also enjoyed making Know Me 2016 and I may make it again, but this time with long sleeves. I think I’m going to order more of this fabric while it’s on sale. I can see a pant set or a kaftan or a beach cover up for the summer. If you grab this or any other fabric from the Fabric Mart website, you can use my coupon code Johanna5 and receive $5 off your purchase. You’re welcome. 

Until next time,

JOHANNA | @soveryjo