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Friday, June 10, 2011

Plaid Summer Dress

Simplicity 3673 is complete!  After being away for the last few weeks, it's nice to have a completed project.  I feel like I have my sewing mojo back.  I've been in my sewing space all week and so I have a lot of new posts planned.  Back to the dress...


This dress was so simple - only four pieces - but in the end, I feel like there were so many details that I liked.  I think that the plaid fabric with the pleats were a good combination, and the lines matched up really well.

I love the way the fabric lined up in the darts.
Things that I might do again? Well I probably will remake this dress as it was so easy and I like the final version, but if I did, depending on the fabric that I used, I might use some interfacing in the front of the bust area.  It lays flat most of the time, but it would be nice to prevent it from puckering at all.  Though it does force me to stand up straight which my mom would love.

If I worked with this fabric again, I would want to do some blue piping to bring out more of the blue plaid.  The blue lines in the fabric are a really pretty shade of blue, and I think a nice teal-ish blue trim would have looked great.  I may even go back and do some minor tweaks to this dress based on this decision.  But I'll give it some time before I start hacking it to pieces.


Also, I only lined the top as the dress felt like a nice weight as I progressed with combining the pieces. I'm happy with that decision though so I would keep it that way.  In fact, I have a lot of this fabric left... maybe two yards?  I might make a matching suit jacket later in the summer as I prepare for fall weather.  But I don't want to think about that now.  Right now, I'm enjoying the beginning signs of summer!



Check out this detail! The dress seems like it has so many elements, but it was only four pattern pieces and a whole lot of darts.  But I love the way the plaid matched up everywhere. 

I also had the chance to try out a hem technique that I've been wanting to try for a while: the blind hem.  I'll post more details about how that worked out early next week.

15 comments:

  1. That fits you beautifully! I am happy to hear that it was easy to sew, because I just bought that pattern and am new to sewing.

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  2. This would be a great dress to learn to sew garments with! Take your time on the darts and you'll have a beautiful looking dress in no-time. I usually have no patience for darts but I forced myself to take them slowly, especially because I had a pattern in my fabric that I wanted to match up.

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  3. Oooh this is lovely - great fabric choice for the pattern, and you've got the fit just right! Its a beautiful dress and I'm sure you'll get a lot of wear out of it! Gorgeous! xxx

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  4. It looks adorable on you, and I just realized I have that pattern too! I'm gonna have to give it a try :)

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  5. Your dress is prettier than the dress depicted on the pattern envelope.

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  6. Wow that looks amazing! I can ask how you found the length and your height? I think that pattern is for people on the short side (5"3) I'm 5"10 and really want to try this dress!

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  7. I think there's definitely wiggle room! I'm 5'7 and I took it up about three inches, maybe 4? If anything, the skirt is literally only two pieces so you can just add an inch or two when you originally cut it depending on how long you are going to want the skirt. If I had made the more fitted version of the dress, I probably would have taken it up even more.

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  8. You did a beautiful job at matching the plaids. Tasia from SewAholic gives a great tutorial for matching plaids. The dress looks absolutely lovely on you. As to darts, they are my favorite things to do. I learned from Threads Insider Techniques to add a small square piece of material 1/4" before the end of the point -- sew off onto the small square and back tac on the small square, press on both sides -- you end up with perfect darts - no puckering! I also clip my dart marks on the material end before starting so they match up better.

    Look forward to seeing more of your newly made garments.

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  9. lovely dress. It fits you very well. I am also participating in the Summer Essentials Sew Along

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  10. Really cute! I love the details too. Love the fabric and pattern.

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  11. This looks adorable on you! Love it!
    Thank you so much for linking this up to {nifty thrifty sunday} last week!
    Hope to see you again this weekend!
    xoxo,
    Vanessa

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  12. It looks great on you! I love the bodice and the fabric you chose! ~April @ Wildflowers & Whimsy

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  13. You look great:) this dress was made for you! x

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  14. Gorgeous dress on you! I enjoyed your blog. Stacy of Stacy Sews and Schools directed me to you. :-)

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