Little Red Dress

This cute dress came to life from the fabric of an abandoned dress for me.  I loved the fabric and was planning to make this Vogue pattern with it.  Then I realised that such a strong colour with such a lot of fabric was going to add up to a dress that I just would not wear.

Instead, I have enough fabric to make each of the little girls a dress, plus a top for me, and some left over.  I always make for the oldest first, since she is the one who needs a new wardrobe.  I tried to pitch her the Penny Dress from Craftiness is Not Optional but she loves colour, colour and more colour so she wasn’t keen on the white bodice.  Never mind, the little one is going to get the Penny Dress in the red spot, and probably a second one in the aqua.

Back to the red dress.  The request was for puffy sleeves with pocket suggestions enthusiastically embraced.  No problem.  Back to CINO for the Charlotte Dress to find out how to make and attach a puffy sleeve.   I ended up using mostly this tutorial/sew-along for the dress instructions.  I can’t believe I drafted a sleeve!  My first ever pattern drafting.  I had no idea what I was doing.  (But I felt like a genius for thinking to use my brown wrapping paper roll from Ikea!)

I re-used the bodice pattern from the Cottage Home Party Dress.  The skirt is one width of the fabric, which was enough since mine is 150cm wide.  I would have added more panels if I had a narrower fabric.  Instead of the invisible zip from the Charlotte Dress, or the button loops from the Party Dress, I made buttonholes as the fastening.  Three reasons: I haven’t done them in years, I’m trying not to buy loads of new things for each project (like zips) and I couldn’t figure out how to get button loops in with a different bodice construction.   After a couple of practice rounds, my buttonholes weren’t too bad, even on my basic (under £100) machine.  I didn’t dare do them in a contrast colour though.  E chose the buttons from my stash, I would have gone for a bright blue instead of the red she chose but I love that she gets involved with the choices for her garments.

 

I should have sewed the bodice side seams differently, opening up between the bodice and the lining and running the seam through both as one, continuous stitch.  I could have closed the back of the bodice this way, but I ended up top-stitching it closed before I worked out the alternative.  (By then, I didn't feel like unpicking.)

As I was making the bodice, I was having serious misgivings about the fabric choice paired with the puffy sleeves.  It was looking very Minnie Mouse.  However, once I attached the skirt, the dress changed and suddenly it looked fine.  I think it was saved by the fact the skirt is long, and I didn’t attach a pocket.  I resisted the urge to play around with a contrasting trim and I think the fabric makes for a striking dress without needing any embellishment.  I may still add a gathered patch pocket, depending on how much fabric I have left after the other projects.  However, the 6 yo specification is for a slanted welt pocket which I am not in the mood to try, and would be too heavy for this fine cotton. 

 

The 100% cotton fabric was a joy to work with.  So soft and smooth, the machine needle purred through it.  I got it from Clothspot who sent wrapped in tissue paper, sealed with a sticker, like a special present.  They also popped some great swatches in the package and have a fab thread-matching service which means no guessing about whether you’re selecting  the right thread colour off the internet.  I nearly bought some more spotted fabric from them but I am sure I will tire of The Festival of Spots after one week (more on that later!).

All in all, I’m really happy with how this dress turned out, she loves it, there have been multiple requests to wear it, and it is really easy to “spot” her wherever she is!

Costs: £11.92

Includes: fabric, thread, 1/3 of unused Vogue dress pattern, delivery.  (ok, £8.59 when I exclude the unfair pattern depreciation - it wasn't this dress' fault.)