And so we have come to the last day of the blog tour. It has been so much fun and I hope it has inspired you.
To close the tour, it is my turn to share what I've been sewing.
As autumn has apparently started (it's still pretty hot in Sydney) I decided on a making a long sleeve knit dress, something that is just very comfortable to wear and doesn't require any ironing, who doesn't love that?
I noticed a while ago that Marte from Compagnie M had shared a tutorial on how to turn her Julia sweater pattern into a dress for girls. Now she has just released a tutorial on how to do this for the adult version. Check out her latest blog post that includes a free pattern piece for the skirt part. She shared that yesterday, didn't we time that well ;)
I based myself on the tutorial for kids as it's pretty straightforward, and drafted the skirt part myself. Marte was kind enough to share some tips with me before her post went live.
This is a super easy and quick dress to sew. I made this dress in one evening (although it wasn't an early night - more on that later). The top consist of a front and back piece, no need to worry about easing in sleeves or anything like that.
I used the Artie Blue organic knit fabric from Froy & Dind, and combined it with royal blue ribbing for the cuffs, neckline and the waistband. But you can use regular knits for this as well.
I was really indecisive as to where I was going to put the waistband. This placement is easy to adjust and is really personal preference. You just cut off a certain height from the top part. I tried on the pieces in front of the mirror before stitching it all together. I played it safe and did not cut off too much of the top, and followed the measurements Marte had suggested.
Then I had to make the cord for the waist and here I learned something! I used ribbing material for this and that wasn't a good idea. Marte shares a very cool trick in her tutorial on how you can easily turn a narrow tube around, but it failed twice as the ribs make this turning thing too hard, the surface is "too rough" I guess.
It was getting late, I was really keen to finish the dress as I had organised to meet up with fellow blogger Nic from Create.nic to photograph each other the following day. Time to get the husband involved! I outsourced the turning of the narrow cord thing to him while he watched another yet episode of Top Gear. It took a while but he got there. Then threading it through the tunnel in the waistband - also in ribbing - wasn't a quick job either but he patiently got it done.
So the following day, photos were taken. It may have been officially autumn but the temperatures were well and truly like a hot summer day so I almost melted. When I saw the photos, I decided I wasn't fully happy with the fit. That waistband needed to come up, and I wanted the top part a bit tighter.
So back to the sewing machine, made the adjustments, and I decided to replace the cord as well.
Third time lucky: I made it in regular knit and this time turning it right side out went like a charm!
All my hubby's hard work for nothing and now my dress needed to be photographed again. As time was running out, he got the job again. (Sorry Nic, the photos you took were great though:) Fortunately, it was the first day of sub 30 degree temperatures in what seems like 2 months!
So there you have it, me in my new dress, on top of a pile of leaves in the evening sunlight. It looks a bit like autumn doesn't it? (how "convenient" that gum trees lose their leaves all year round!)
Happy sewing!
Maaike
