Lonsdale Dress

 Hello there, sewing friends! I finally made my first Sewaholic Lonsdale dress. Its such a fun summer dress, perfect for days spent drinking sangria.

I used Art Gallery's voile, which is so soft and fun to work with. I had been eyeing it up at working trying to think of the perfect use for it, and Lonsdale seems to be it. I had to make some changes to the bust pattern in order for it to work. I did a fba, and added a bust dart. I also shirred the back bodice pieces. I love wearing the sweetheart dresses that I have shirred all summer and thought it would be a cute addition.

Its not the most perfect fit, the waistband is a little tight, but whatever. If i was going to make it again i would make the shirring into panels in the back, not shir the whole back. It makes it kinda hard to zip up, and the zipper is more exposed than I would like. It's getting harder to overlook imperfections when sewing. Things don't always turn out perfect and I can't beat myself up about it. Does anyone else have that problem?

Well I'm off to enjoy one of the last weekends of the summer! Hope you are too!

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Embroidered Cambie Dress

If you follow me on Instagram (which you totally should btw) you would have seen a sneak peek of this dress probably over 2 months ago when I finished it. I was SO happy with how it turned out, the fabric is perfect, the back was matching up and the fit was pretty spot on. And then the day came when I had to wear it for a special event... And the zipper broke, while I was putting it on. I may have had a total meltdown, and put it aside for weeks until I could mentally face the zipper again.  Anytime a dress has a waistband and a gathered skirt it does the invisible zipper gives me a hard time.

Anyway, this is my second Sewaholic Cambie dress. The first version I made was out of the Kokka fabric, and I made the A-line skirt. I tweaked the fit a little for this one, raising the neckline, and making a new sweetheart shape. 

The fabric is this crazy cute. It's an magenta embroidered cotton on a black background, made in Italy that I bought at Fabricland. We only got a small amount of this beauty, so I quickly snatched up 3 yards. We sold out out of it the next day! The skirt I gathered on the crossgrain to take advantage of the edge of the embroidery. I carefully zig-zagged around the flowers on the bottom and cut away the excess black for my hem. The whole thing is lined in black Robert Kaufman savannah cotton, I love this stuff for linings, it's SO soft and not too expensive. 

I wore this dress to the Project Fabricland fashion snow, and it was a big hit! I even made a hat to match it since some of the students participated in a Head to Hem challenge. I'll show you my hat later this week! 

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Cambie Cocktail Dress

 

I finally made the famous Sewaholic Cambie dress! I did version A, the a-line skirt with pockets! The pockets are great, it's hard to keep my hands out of them. This was my first Sewaholic pattern, so I was a little nervous about the fit,( the patterns are made for pear shaped women right?). I am definitely more of an hourglass. 

The only fitting I did was to add an inch to the bodice, I could tell it was going to be too short.  Overall the fit is pretty good, it gaps a little near the sweetheart neckline, so if I make it again I will take out the excess fabric there. 

The fabric is a Japanese shirting fabric from Kokka, in a fabulous retro cocktail print. They still have some in yellow at Fabricworm. I made some piping at the waistband to match the pink using some rattail and a small amount of Kona cotton. 

I used to have so much trouble using my zipper foot to make piping, I could never get close enough to sew the piping. But I was told at work by the experts that it's the foot not me! YAY. The Bernina zipper foot does not get close enough to sew piping, you have to either use a piping foot or I sewed the piping to the waistband using the open foot, and moved the needle all the way over. SO MUCH EASIER. Also notice how perfectly my piping matches at the zipper :)

Do you ever use piping? Now I feel like adding it to everything! 

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