A Garment A Week

A Garment A Week – Week 22 – 03/06/16

Yes I know it’s winter, we even had a massive frost this morning. But I found a piece of vintage cotton in a second hand shop and it needed to be made into a cute summer dress! It has quite a wide weave but there’s definitely no polyester in it.  The print is really pretty and I wanted the design to be pretty too, so the style is vintage inspired too.

I think it’ll spend a few months in the wardrobe now waiting for warmer weather to return.  But braving the Autumn sunset proved good for the photos!
It’s hard to see with the print but there is a seam under the bust curving down to the waist. The bust darts are gathers underneath instead and the waistband continues around the back. There are small darts in the back.

A Garment A Week - week 22 - Vintage cotton dress - stitchremedy.com

 

The seam under the bust does seem to sit a bit high, it’s hard to see just where the underbust line on my mannequin is.  If I redo this pattern, I will drop it by about 1.5cm.
It should be lined with a nice cotton too but the only fabric in my stash in the right colour, was a stretch knit. Luckily it wasn’t too light & stretchy and it stitched in quite nicely. It does make the dress a bit heavier than a cotton would.
I played around with construction techniques on this dress too. I stitched the shoulders, then the neckline with the facing and armholes, then pulled them through the right way. Then I stitched the side seams so they’re completely internal. But then I couldn’t face the zip properly so the zip is completely visible inside.  The skirt is just one long piece as I was cutting to make the most of the fabric I had.  So there are no side seams on the skirt just centre back ones.  The layers of the skirt are joined to the bottom of the zip then they hang separately.

A Garment A Week - Week 22 - Vintage cotton dress - stitchremedy.com


It was good the play around with different techniques as now I know what’ll work and in which order to sew things, for next time I’m working on a dress.
I was thinking of shortening the hem before summer but then after seeing the photos I think I like the length it is. 🙂

A Garment A Week - week 22 - Vintage cotton dress - stitchremedy.com