It's hard to overstate just how luxurious the Minerva Core Range Luxury Viscose Jersey is! It is so soft to the touch and drapes perfectly for any number of garments. I chose to make the Cashmerette Appleton dress in the color "raisin" - it will be the perfect addition to my autumn maternity wardrobe and work well in postpartum.

You can head over to my Minerva profile to read all about this dress and my love for the viscose jersey fabric. I need some in nearly every color now!

This fabric was gifted to me in exchange for a post on Minerva's site and this post contains affiliate links. I'm thankful to have the Appleton dress in my wardrobe and can't wait to use the fabric remnants on a few additional pieces. Thanks for your support!

Three glass buttons up the back finish the dress and don't detract from the fabric or compete with the pattern details. However, the back placket on the skirt is my least favorite part of the dress. I found it hard to make the placket lay flat without a pucker at the bottom pivot point. Thankfully the skirt is gathered and hides this little imperfection.

I recently had a color analysis and learned I was a “calm summer” and should focus on garment fabrics that are cool, light and muted to highlight my best features. As soon as I saw this beautiful John Kaldor cotton sateen that featured at least three of my best colors I knew it would make the perfect birthday dress!

 

Today's post is a guest blog written by my mother, who graciously made a few maternity garments for me early in my pregnancy when I didn't have the energy to sew.

When our daughter announced that we would become grandparents for the first time my heart leapt for joy. I was ready to make A.L.L. the things for the baby, but decided I should consult the parents before I went wild.  Marissa suggested a few clothing items to round out her maternity wardrobe would be especially helpful. She selected the Megan Nielsen pattern Cara and ordered fabric from So Sew English. I was delighted when I received that package. The fabric was a rich red Modal with a wonderful drape. I printed out the pattern and got right to work. It is a bit tricky trying to sew for someone so many miles away but I relied on fitting the pattern to myself and sending selfies, and video chats with Marissa for "sewing consultations". 

To extend the top pattern to dress length I compared it to a ready-to-wear dress in a length I liked. The shirt pattern had already made adjustments for a pregnant tummy and hips so I simply extended the length, with a slight flare to allow for walking.

Isn't it great that we are so close in height too? I scoured the comments on the Megan Nielsen blog and gleaned lots of tips and suggestions that I found helpful. I noticed how often women suggested that adding elastic to the ruching was critical, and created a nicer end product. I think this suggestion was essential to creating the nicest finished product when using such a drapey fabric. 

In the end I adjusted the sleeve width, bringing it in a full inch. I  also made a few adjustments to the shoulder area, bringing it in one inch to bring the shoulder cap up and taking 1/2" off the top of each shoulder seam, lifting the entire garment up and shortening the neckline and armscye. I finished the dress with a twin double needle hem. I always use wash away stay tape on knits hems and found that step especially important with this lightweight fabric.

Actual sewing time was probably about an hour, but I spent a couple more hours preparing the fabric, adjusting the sizing, "tissue fitting" and video chatting. I wanted  this to be the perfect feel good to wear maternity wardrobe staple. As soon as I completed my sewing I boxed it up, sealed it with a kiss and ran to the post office. I was so happy to see Marissa wearing the dress in a recent photo.

Easter is am important holiday to my family and one we always celebrate with a new outfit to wear to church. This year it seems we won't be celebrating in person, but I'm glad to have made a new friend through the making of my dress.

Mackenzie, of Bobbin and Button, and I decided to collaborate and make the same Easter dress. Sticking with our desire to use resources we already owned we went with a New Look pattern (6447) she owned and I used fabric from my stash. Actually, this raspberry wool crepe and white silk lining were gifted to me by a fellow sewist making this dress a perfect representation of the joy and friendship I've found in the sewing community.


As it turns out, Mackenzie and I are much the same size, needing to grade the bodice from a size 10 at the top to a size 12 at the waist. I made a size 12 in the skirt, used the size 12 darts, and of course tissue and pin fit the bodice before cutting into my beautiful fabric. You can see the whole process in my Instagram story highlights.

I truly love how this dress turned out. It is nicely fitted without being too tight and would be appropriate for me to wear to church, work, and a variety of other occasions. And the fabric combination of wool crepe and silk make this dress comfortable to wear in any environment. I was initially concerned about the high, boat neckline but it fits quite comfortably on me and I'm thrilled with just how invisible my zipper really is.

The most difficulty this pattern gave me was in keeping the midriff piece sorted in my mind. I think there was a slight difference between the top and bottom, but it was difficult to tell after working with the fabric a bit. I think this may become a tried and true pattern for me and I'm having a hard time thinking about what I would change in the future. That's not true; I might add pockets next time!

If you're looking for a classic dress pattern with fairly easy to interpret instructions (I only had to call my mom to interpret one direction!) I would highly recommend this pattern. And if you're looking for encouragement and some quality sewing advice, go check out Mackenzie's blog.



Time estimate: 15 hours
Size: 10-12
Fabric: raspberry wool crepe, white silk
Care instructions: dry cleaned

Cost to make:
pattern: $9
fabric: gifted
zipper: $4
*used stabilizer and thread from my stash
TOTAL: $13

 

I simply love this dress, from the perfect color palette to the tailored fit it is sure to be a staple in my wardrobe. I took my time tissue fitting this dress and love the results. It reminds me to slow down and enjoy the process because I will love my finished garments so much more. What a hard lesson that has been to learn!

You can read about my fitting process and see more pictures of the finished garment on my recent Minerva blog post and purchase the same fabric while you're there!

I have been so inspired by both of the duchesses style. I want to act like them and dress like them! So I’ve been working on a few special sewing projects to replicate garments I’ve seen Kate and Meghan wear.

For Easter I made Vogue 1499, similar in style to a dress Kate wore in Germany in 2017. My version had the same general style lines as Kate's dress, with Dior darts, a pleated skirt, and yellow lace overlay. The shade of yellow lace I used for my dress is much less saturated than Kate's dress, my skirt has more pleats and cap sleeves, and my lace fabric has a scalloped lace edge.

This Vogue pattern is made for crepe, linen, and silk dupioni fabrics. I used a white faille fabric with a nylon lace overlay from JoAnn. I cut each pattern piece in the faille as well as the lace and basted them together inside the 5/8" seam allowance, essentially creating one piece of fabric. This method worked well in most places, although I did cut four sleeves in the faille fabric and follow the pattern instructions for sleeve assembly, adding the lace overlay after the sleeves were assembled. I also needed to leave a few inches unstitched at each skirt side and back seam to allow me to hem the white fabric before stitching the rest of the side and back seams together.


Although I love how this turned out, getting the fit right was frustrating. According to the pattern instructions I should have been a size 12. I know that I am usually an 8-10 in traditional tissue patterns, but couldn't find any finished measurements for the bodice and therefore decided to be safe and cut the larger version. I tried to tissue fit the bodice pattern pieces to myself, but usually find this fitting technique works best with a second person assisting. Wow did I regret cutting the size 12 later! I ended up taking 1" off the bottom of the bodice to shorten the torso and removed 1 3/8" from each side at the center back. I ended up making so many fit adjustments that I was entirely overwhelmed at the thought of recreating my adjustments for the lining and ended up putting the whole project off until the last minute. In the end I did not line the dress, opting instead to use single fold bias tape to finish the neck and underarms. This was the first time I used bias tape in place of a facing or lining but I am thrilled with how it turned out and plan to use that technique again in the near future.


Overall I am thrilled with my version of Kate's yellow lace dress. I usually try to avoid wearing yellow, which doesn't look great on my skin tone; however this lighter yellow has me convinced to try yellow again. I wish the bodice of the dress was a bit more fitted and would likely make a size 8 if I were to make this pattern again.

Have Meghan and Kate's style inspired you?

Time estimate: 12-14 hours
Size: 12
Fabric used: white casa dahlia high shine faille fabric, 2 yards and sunshine casa collection lace fabric, 2 yards
Care instructions: machine wash cold, line dry

Cost to make:
pattern: $6
faille fabric: $14
lace fabric: $16
invisible zipper: $3
thread: $2
*used bias tape, and hook from my stash
TOTAL: $41

Resources
Professor Pincushion's tutorial for bias tape finish
KateMiddletonStyle.org for pictures of Kate

I've had my eye on Chalk & Notch's Fringe dress pattern for a while now and was finally inspired to make my own autumn version when I saw this burgandy Amalfi Rifle Paper Co. rayon at my local fabric store.

I've had a crush on Rifle Paper Co. fabric for a while now, and have a sizable hoard, but have been too afraid to cut into any of my stash. Until now. And I'm so glad I did!


I purchased my Fringe dress pattern a few weeks in advance and had it printed using pdfplotting.com. This was my first time printing indie patterns through an online .pdf printer and I was surprised at how easy and inexpensive they were to print. If I can plan far enough in advance I will certainly be doing this for the rest of my indie patterns.

I was very thoughtful about how I cut out my pattern pieces, aligning floral motifs across top and bottom pieces. I used my rotary cutter and mat to cut out the fabric pieces for the first time and was fairly happy with how that worked, although I should probably get a smaller rotary cutter if I plan to cut more patterns this way in the future. I made a mistake at this point and accidentally cut out the material for the darts. Thankfully this dress isn't extremely fitted and I was able to take slightly thinner seams and still make it work.

I had difficulty turning the ties and ended up simply ironing and top stitching them. I also sewed the ties into the side seams instead of the darts, as a stylistic preference. Although I thought I was being careful I caught about 1/2" of the right tie in the back waistline seam. I decided not to pick out that seam and re-sew it since I am likely to only tie the ties in the back of the dress and I had already serged the seam when I discovered my mistake.


I really like how this pattern dealt with the insertion of pockets. This pattern called for fusible stabilizer at the opening of the pockets, which I'm sure will make a big difference in how well the dress wears over time. Once the pockets were completed I tacked them toward the front. I plan to add stabilizer to all of my pocket openings in the future as well as tack them in place.

I love sewing with wovens and this rayon was a dream to work with. I especially like how this fabric ironed so well, allowing me to get a crisp neckline facing and curved hem. I will certainly be using more of my Rifle Paper Co. stash in the near future and hope to make the Fringe dress again too.






Time estimated: 12 hours
Size: 4
Material used: 100% rayon
Care instructions: machine wash warm or cold, tumble dry low, iron low in needed

Cost to make t-shirt:
pattern - $14.00
.pdf printing - $4.00
fabric - $41.25
*used existing thread and interfacing
TOTAL: $59.25