Hi, I'm Robyn. I live in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and I look forward to sharing some of my projects with you as a contributor to the MaaiDesign blog. Feel free to follow me @robynborley on Instagram if you'd like to see all my projects.
At the moment I am loving all the beautiful greens that I'm seeing in RTW, so when I saw the teal green Tencel twill I was completely smitten. I knew if would pair perfectly with Simplicity 1059, a pattern whose simple elegance had captured my imagination.
I'd never sewn with Tencel before so I wasn't quite sure how it would handle but I shouldn't have worried, this fabric sewed up like a dream. It takes an iron beautifully and has a really lovely weight and drape to it, it does fray a little but nothing too dramatic. We were rushing to get these photos before we lost the light and I didn't realise how wrinkled the dress had become around the neckline so these photos don't do the pleats justice. The photo below also highlights the very neat fit around the armhole, and my need for an FBA, so that's something to be aware of.
The dress itself is a pretty simple sew but I did make a few adjustments. I wanted this to be work appropriate so I raised the v-neckline by three inches. I also lengthened the sleeves by 1.25 inches, lengthened the sash (you cut the sash in two panels so I just added a third), cut the back on the fold and left out the zip.
If I was to make this pattern again I would also cut the front on the fold and change the front facing, the way you're instructed to do it leaves quite a bit of bulk at the point of the v.
This was a fun dress to sew, it was quick to come together and the shoulder pleats and full sleeves make it feel a little bit special. The tencel fabric provides the perfect amount of drape and movement that this pattern needs.
