Dressmaking at Home: Dress F

Sewing slumps always seem to happen when you've gotten comfortable. Something has been finished, nothing too hard, of course, but still something you have needed to finish for while, and you feel accomplished, so you 'take a break' and ponder some projects and before you know it, you've tripped, fallen, and slid to the hard, rocky bottom of Motivation Mountain. And that's where I was last week, so I knew I had to sew something, lest I stay there.

So, I decided to make Dress F from Dressmaking at Home by Machiko Kayaki. It's a tea length dress with fish-eye darts at the waist, short sleeves, and a waist tie at the back. There is also facing at the neck and a zipper. This is the second time I have made a dress from this book and I enjoyed this one a good bit more for some unknown reason. 

The fabric I chose is from my Portland 2019 stash. It has little cobalt and orange birds flying around long wispy white blades of grass on a black background. I am really not sure of what the fiber content is, but it I would guess a very fine and light piqued cotton. It's very flowy when you wear it and does wrinkle, but doesn't hold them too much. Moving to adjustments, the only real change I made was that I left out the fish-eye darts on both the front and the back and it's very comfortable. I made a size 13 (Japanese standards) and added 1/2 in seam allowance to the pattern pieces when I cut them out. 

These pics were taken after a whole day's wear and after a long car ride, so it has a few wrinkles and the facing and bow are a little scrunched up. Glancing at the pattern, it reminds me a little of a subdued/modernized 1930's day dress. Edge stitching along the neckline is absolutely necessary to keep the facing in place, by the way, so don't skip it, like I wanted to. I am also someone who makes the sleeves first and then puts the whole thing into the armhole. However, I switched things around and sewed the sleeve and armhole seam first, then the dress and sleeve sides, and finally finished the sleeve hems. Turned out fine.

Inspiration???

This creation definitely lifted me out of my sewing rut and I have already lined up my next project. I think I reached a certain level of skill after making this. It feels a bit more polished than previous works and I didn't have to reference directions too often. With the exception of that zipper installment, my work looked well-finished, I thought. I would love to make this again!

Before I wrap this up, I just want to mention the recap Deepika did on Pattern Review Weekend in Portland this year. Below is the link to the lovely blog post that touches on just a bit of the joy we had talking about sewing, listening to seminars, buying fabric, and sharing drinks together! 🍻

PRW

https://sewing.patternreview.com/blog?s=2551914

Happy Sewing!