Simplicity 1418 dress

This weekend just gone my brother got married. An occasion like that demands a new dress, don't you think? And obviously I had to make that dress. I knew I wanted to stick with my favoured fit and flare silhouette, but with some sort of feature to stand out from the dresses I wear on a daily basis. I looked through my pattern stash and eventually settled on Simplicity 1418.

This is a pattern that I got free with a magazine at some point and to be honest I'd forgotten I even owned it, but it was just what I wanted for this project. Simplicity 1418 is one of the Pattern Runway series, which has various bodice options and a pleated skirt. I decided to omit the back inserts and shoulder straps, and use the off-the-shoulder sleeves.

I made a toile of the bodice using a size 16 at the bust and grading to an 18 at the waist, and making my standard adjustment of adding an inch to the length. The fit was good, apart from when it came to the sleeves - they were huge! I took a large wedge out of the middle of the sleeve piece, which greatly improved things but there was still a bit of extra room so I slimmed them down again. I think in the end I took around 3 inches out of the sleeve, and adjusted the elastic and casing that help hold the sleeve in place by the same amount.

That meant I was ready to move on to creating the actual dress. I considered a whole range of fabric options, but the winner in the end was this lovely viscose and linen mix from Sew La Di Da. It's a really gorgeous fabric, and I think the large scale print helps to make it stand out from my everyday dresses.

It is quite a thin fabric so I decided to underline everything with white cotton lawn. I'm really happy I made that choice - not only does it ensure that the fabric is opaque, it also makes the colours look more vivid.

I cut everything out in a single layer to make it easier to get the print placement right. I wanted to make sure I had one of the groups of 3 poppies in the centre of the bodice, and then carry that on down through the skirt. The front bodice also has princess seams, and I matched the pattern up as closely as possible between the centre front and side front sections. I'm glad I put in the effort to do that - I think the bodice could have ended up looking a bit of a mess with this print otherwise.

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The sewing process was all straightforward and the instructions were easy to follow. I decided to line the bodice instead of using the facings. I used the facings on my toile and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them, but I just prefer the clean finish of a lined bodice, especially for a dress like this. I also added 2 inches to the length of the skirt pieces just to make sure that it would be a nice elegant length.

To top it all off, I used some of the remnants of the fabric to make the simple flowers that you can hopefully just about see in my hair in these photos. The benefit of making your own outfit is that it's easy to make sure your accessories match because you can just use the same fabric!

 I really enjoyed wearing this dress - I was slightly concerned that the off-the-shoulder sleeves would annoy me, but they didn't at all. I think having the elastic underneath the sleeves really helps them to stay in place and stops the bodice from slipping. It's not going to be one of my most worn dresses because it is a bit special, but it is definitely one of my favourites. Now I just need someone else to get married so that I can wear it again!

Rosey posey dress

Back at the end of January, I went on a little day trip to Lyme Regis. It's been one of my favourite places ever since we had a couple of family holidays there when I was little, but this time I found something that makes it even better - fabric shopping!

I already knew that Sew La Di Da Vintage had a sewing school based there, but since my last visit they'd also opened up a shop selling their patterns, fabrics and other sewing goodies. It's not a big place, but I'd say would definitely falls into the category of "small but perfectly formed".

There were a couple of fabrics that took my fancy, but the rose & scissor poplin that I've used for this dress ended up being the one that came home with me.

This particular print caught my attention, because I'd already been eyeing it up in Sew Over It's online shop. I'd actually very nearly bought it before, but thankfully for me I hadn't because if I had, then I'd have paid more than I needed to - Sew Over It are selling it for £12 per metre, and I think I paid £7 (or it might have been £8) per metre. It's funny how prices vary between different fabric shops isn't it?

I'm not saying that Sew Over It are trying to overcharge people - there are a lot of different factors that go in to determining a price after all - but it's definitely worth shopping around sometimes. The lady in the Sew La Di Da shop did say that they were trying to keep their prices down, so I'll have to make sure I take more fabric buying pennies for my next trip to the seaside!

The dress that I've made here is my third one from the book Sew Many Dresses, Sew Little Time (the first one's here, and the second's here). The book follows the current trend in sewing books for providing mix-and-match bodices, skirts, sleeves and necklines to create a whole array of different dresses.

This one's very similar to my other two dresses - it's the basic bodice, short sleeves and gathered skirt, but this time I used the V-neck option.

Being as I've essentially made this dress twice already, this was a nice simple project and there's not really anything to say about it that I haven't said about its predecessors. Unsurprisingly, I'm pleased with the result. Plus it's good to have a bit more pink to add to my wardrobe - I don't think I have enough of it at the moment.

I really should try some of the other different options from the book at some point, but there's a few other projects creeping up my sewing queue as well - I've got Gertie's Ultimate Dress Book to try out, and some treats from recent pattern sales, but top of the list is the new Doris dress, which will hopefully be getting stitched up soon. What sewing plans do you have at the moment?

Sew La Di Da Sweetheart Dress

When I was browsing the sewing magazines in Smiths the other week, I was excited to see that this month's issue of Sewing World included a really pretty pattern for the Sweetheart dress by Sew La Di Da. It went straight to the top of my 'to-sew' list, and here's my finished dress...

What's not to love about a gorgeous full skirt and that pretty neckline?! I may have been living under a rock or something, but I hadn't really come across Sew La Di Da before I saw this dress in the magazine, but they have some beautiful patterns - I particularly like the French Gypsy and Rose dresses. They also have classes and workshops in Lyme Regis, and I love Lyme Regis so they must be good!

I cut out a straight size 14 - based on the paper pattern, I added 1 inch to the bodice sections (which is a standard adjustment for me) and then did a quick toile of the bodice to check that it would be OK, and it was. I'm pretty happy with the fit of the finished dress, the shape itself is really good but there's a tiny bit of extra space all over the dress. It really is tiny, and I don't mind this dress being a teeny bit on the big side because I'm planning that it'll be an everyday dress, and it's always good to have room to move in daily life! I think this would be a gorgeous dress to make for a special occasion too though, and if I were doing that then I'd probably use ever-so-slightly bigger seam allowances on the bodice section, particularly around the waist, to take out the slight looseness.

The instructions are presented in a fun vintage style and were really easy to follow. They're also accompanied by nice, clear black and white photos of each step so that you know you're on the right track. Tracing the pattern pieces from the pattern sheet included with the magazine was a bit of a headache, but that's the price you pay for getting the pattern free in a magazine, and I imagine wouldn't be an issue at all if you bought the paper pattern from Sew La Di Da.

At the point when you come to sewing in the back zip, the instructions tell you to try on the dress and have a friend pin you in to mark where you need the zip/seam to be. This wasn't an approach I'd used before, but it seems like it's probably a good way of helping you get a nice fit. The dress closes with an invisible zip - I'm not a massive fan of invisible zips but I thought I'd give one another go this time and I'm glad I did. And while it's not totally invisible, it is more invisible than it looks in this photo!

The material is a pretty cotton poplin that I got online from Chawla's - not the most user-friendly website in the world, but they have a good range of very reasonably priced materials if you're looking for a bargain! I thought the navy and floral print would be nice for spring, but also wouldn't look too spring-like at other times of the year. Plus it fits in perfectly with this week's Project Sewn floral theme, so I'm linking up with the sewalong there.

I hope I'll be wearing it a lot, but I'm not 100% sure - I do really like the dress and I would have worn it this weekend just gone if the weather hadn't intervened (see below), but for some reason the neckline on this one makes it feel slightly more dressy than my usual day dresses so we'll see how it goes. Speaking of necklines, the pattern also includes a lovely sweetheart neckline option (hence the name of the dress, no doubt) as well as this straight neckline that I used - I'll need to try that on another dress at some point.

I'll leave you with an obligatory twirling shot, and a warning not to try to take photos of a full-skirted dress outside in gale-force winds unless you want to be constantly battling with said skirt to avoid the world seeing your underwear!