The Three Maxis!

Comfortable for Western Australian summer, these rayon jersey knit/Ity maxi dresses will be easy to wear.  I made these three for my step daughter, who’s birthday is actually on 25th December!

fabrics from Gorgeous Fabrics, and Marcy Tilton

The floral one is an Ity.  great to sew.  The other two streeeeeeetchy rayon jersey knits had a huge stretch running vertical also, so I needed to make the dresses, then hang them on the mannequin. The next day the length had dropped about 6cm.  Cut off to desired length and then hemmed.  I used two different bias edging methods, all worked very well with these fabrics.

My Pur Jus Dress – self drafted Linen Dress

Finally the Pur Jus Dress i have called this.  Made from EmmaOneSock  softest linen ever.   Drafted a pattern to reflect tucks, darts and curves that go well with linen fabric.  I loved the fabric so much that I bought the other colourway – grey shades.

Made a form of twisted neckline, i liked the way it turned out, the pressing makes it permanent.  Armholes with facing.

Loads of darts for a bit of shape.

Darts made ‘inside out’ for some fun. I eventually placed some ‘floating’ pockets on the side where the side front panel sat. Haven’t taken that photo yet…

Butterick B5495 Maxi Dress

Here’s my first dressmaking blog – starting with the latest project. I’m starting ‘backwards’ but you gotta start somewhere right?  So many sewist blogs around the world have inspired me to write my own experiences. Thank you all the girls in US…

This maxi dress looked great on others with a similar spread to me!    Sew I made it for myself.  There were changes…

Firstly I wanted to use this Gorgeous Fabrics ITY : strata-lightful ITY jersey- purple tones’.  This vibrant fabric had a mirror image design down the centre. The neckline of the pattern was too loooow…especially that I’m a kiwi living in Brunei!

Second, the shoulders were very wide, this I needed to change so I added about 8mm elastic to gather in (added into the seam).  This also added strength to the fabric falling from the shoulders.

Lastly, the tab under the bust ended up making the dress too tight and the dress simply looked too fitting at the back. I have slightly sway back. So I re-cut the tab 7cm longer, end result more room all around under the bust. It now fits perfectly with softer pleats down the c.f.  I left the lower edge unhemmed,  Gotta love that ITY!

Bonus……. when I was putting the dress back on my dress form, I loved where it dropped – I think I’ll make a dress that looks like this!