McCalls 7922 - The Super Fuchsia Dress

This, my friends, is a tale of what happens when you fall completely and utterly in love with a fabric, and use it despite the fact that it might not be the most suitable candidate for a pattern.

At first glance all seems well in the Jorth world of sewing, right? The dress fits, the knot feature is pretty amazing, and boy - does that colour pop! But scratch a little beneath the surface, and you'll find a story of tweaks, adjustments and alterations. So much for quickly whipping up an easy dress!

The fabric, is, amazing! I loved it the minute I spotted it at Fabric Deluxe. It's a crinkle viscose in the best fuchsia I've ever seen, and it had to be mine right away. I thought it would look pretty spiffy done up in McCalls 7922, so I set to work, forgetting two little words: crinkle viscose. You see, anything with a crinkle will act somewhat like a stretch, as the crinkles provide the fabric with a LOT more 'give' than a standard woven. As soon as I got the dress to try on stage, I realised it was huge - so I took it in, tried it back on, then took it in some more. Normally I rarely have to do that, so consider my mind blown!

The fabric is also quite sheer, so I decided to ditch the interfacing pieces for the neckline, as I didn't want it to show through. Instead I did a tiny hem around the neckline - it's not the most elegant solution, but it worked for me. I wanted this dress to be an easy summer frock I could throw on for stinky hot days, as the fabric is so light and airy to wear, so I wasn't too fussed about doing couture-worthy finishes on any edges.

I also bid adieu to the front pleat - something about front pleats gives me the heebie jeebies, so I sewed that sew up instead.

The origami knot took me a white to figure out, and I kept needing to bring the seams in closer and closer until I finally got them sitting tightly without slipping out. The notches, for this fabric, were no guide, but I'll blame that on my fabric selection, and not the pattern.

One quick word to the wise: because the origami knot makes the dress rather voluminous around the midriff, it can add a few inches to the waistline. In some of the shots we took I look like a skinny minnie, and in others I look quite impressively pregnant. So heads up if you don't want people asking when your little one is due!

All in all, I absolutely love how this dress turned out, even if it did involve lots of adjustments. Does it look like the pattern photo - um, no... I feel like mine looks more like a slinky evening dress, but I think I can make that work for me! All I need is a better, less visible, bra and me and the super fuchsia dress will be ready to take on the world! Put your sunnies on - this bad boy is BRIGHT!

Project Details:
Pattern: McCalls 7922, view B
Fabric: 1.4m crinkle viscose from Fabric Deluxe
Notions: 55cm invisible zipper

Vogue 8184 - The Furry Version!

When life hands you a remnant piece of fabric (that, incidentally, you have been eyeing off in the store for ages, and were kicking yourself for not buying when you originally saw it), and aforementioned piece is only 1 metre long, what is one to do? That's right - make a trusty Vogue 8184 out of the bad boy pronto!

Seriously - if anybody else knows of super cute dress patterns that can be made with a single metre of fabric, then please let me know! I can't think of any bar this one - all it needed was some grosgrain ribbon, and we were a-go!

The dress is lined and boned on the bodice. It does make for a bit of extra work, but it stops any creases forming (and when you have a tendency to slump like me, then boning is a handy reminder to STAND UP STRAIGHT, YOUNG LADY!) and always gives a dress a polished look. Grosgrain ribbon along the waistline seam and as shoulder straps complete the look.

As for costs? Well! When you score a bargain remnant for about $15, I reckon this dress comes out at around the $30, tops - even including buying boning, zip and lining fabric. I do love it when the dress comes out looking so much more exxy than it actually costs - I feel like I'm winning at life when that occurs! And who could say no to such awesomely textured fabric - it appears that at the moment, I certainly cannot!

The only downside to this dress is that the fabric has absolutely no give in it whatsoever. So I'd best not stuff myself with burritos before putting it on, because that zip will never go up if I do!

Project Details:
Pattern - Vogue 8184, view D
Fabric - 1 metre remnant piece from The Fabric Store
Notions - 35cm invisible zip, boning, lining fabric.

Frocktails 2019 dress aka The Christmas Tree Dress

I love Christmas. No seriously - I FREAKING LOVE CHRISTMAS! My favourite movie is White Christmas, my favourite smell is the needles of a real Christmas tree, and don't even get my started on plum pudding with custard. So when I saw fabric online that magically combined brocade with green tinsel, I realised my dream of dressing like an actual Christmas decoration could finally come true!

See what I mean? Party on the top, jingle all the way on the bottom! A girl can never have too much tinsel covering her butt as far as I'm concerned! And this tinsel did it's job - I've never had so many pats on my derriere as I did on Frocktails night whilst wearing this dress!

I used my trusty 8184 - I wanted a simple, classic strapless design so this incredible fabric could speak for itself. The fabric came in a 5 yard piece, alternating in wide sections between the brocade and the tinsel, so cutting out was a bit of a challenge but success (with added shimmer) was mine in the end.

The dress is fully lined, and the bodice is boned on each seam line. An invisible zipper completes the job, and to ensure that the tinsel didn't get caught in the zip each time I put the dress on, I trimmed the tinsel away from the zip area - thankfully there is still enough tinsel around to stop that seam looking bald.

All in all, I love this dress! It is truly one of a kind, and the deep Kelly green is my favourite colour ever. I'm so happy the vision in my head when I initially saw the fabric translated to the dress I got to wear. And it was a blast wearing it to Frocktails - it was, as always, a tremendously fun night!

Photos by the super talented Samara Clifford, featuring my favourite sewing partner in crime, Julia Bobbin, who looked stunning herself in her amazing tailored couture blazer. Girl has talent!

Project Details:
Pattern: Vogue 8184, size 8
Notions: lining, interlining, boning, invisible zipper
Fabric: 5 yard silk/tinsel/acetate piece