a tale of two dresses
27 May 2017 00:26![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Given that so much of my spare time is being taken up by my dissertation this year, any big sewing projects have been put on hold but I couldn't not sew at all, so have been making up some smaller, more practical items. One thing I wanted to tackle was jersey, after having purchased some cute as hell fabric from Berlin earlier in the year.

I found this free sewing pattern on Craftsy, so decided it was worth a try! http://www.thelittleststudio.com/1/post/2016/01/free-pattern-with-dress-tutorial.html
This turned out to be a simple and satisfying pattern to sew. I realised that my fabric wouldn't work as a circle skirt as it would make most of the images upside down, so instead I created a dirndl-style skirt out of two long rectangles stitched together and then pleated at the top to the width of the waistband.
My sewing machine is quite simple, so I don't have any jersey/stretch stitches or a twin needle. Instead, as advised by a youtube tutorial, I stitched two rows of zig-zag seam and then trimmed off the excess close to the outer row of stitching.

the shoulder, side and waist seams were reinforced by sewing lengths of elastic along the seams to stop them from stretching/sagging when worn.

and the finished result:

I was so happy with this, I decided to make another, this time out of a cute Geometric Penguin fabric I was *ahem* persuaded into buying

I've now gone and purchased some polka dot Ponte De Roma fabric, which is what the pattern recommends, to try it with the proper circle skirt. At this rate I could just slob out in jersey and make an entire work wardrobe!
And in future, if I am going to use this account for sewing blogs, I really should remember to take progress pics.Save

I found this free sewing pattern on Craftsy, so decided it was worth a try! http://www.thelittleststudio.com/1/post/2016/01/free-pattern-with-dress-tutorial.html
This turned out to be a simple and satisfying pattern to sew. I realised that my fabric wouldn't work as a circle skirt as it would make most of the images upside down, so instead I created a dirndl-style skirt out of two long rectangles stitched together and then pleated at the top to the width of the waistband.
My sewing machine is quite simple, so I don't have any jersey/stretch stitches or a twin needle. Instead, as advised by a youtube tutorial, I stitched two rows of zig-zag seam and then trimmed off the excess close to the outer row of stitching.

the shoulder, side and waist seams were reinforced by sewing lengths of elastic along the seams to stop them from stretching/sagging when worn.

and the finished result:

I was so happy with this, I decided to make another, this time out of a cute Geometric Penguin fabric I was *ahem* persuaded into buying

I've now gone and purchased some polka dot Ponte De Roma fabric, which is what the pattern recommends, to try it with the proper circle skirt. At this rate I could just slob out in jersey and make an entire work wardrobe!
And in future, if I am going to use this account for sewing blogs, I really should remember to take progress pics.Save