Cotton + Chalk Zoe Dress Sewing Pattern Review

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog post about my fabric stash and the fact that I'm trying to shrink it a bit, and the project I have to share with you today is the first step in that process. This is my Cotton + Chalk Zoe dress.

The Zoe dress was originally included with an old issue of Simply Sewing magazine, but I picked up my copy in a charity shop a month or two ago. It's an easy-to-wear pullover trapeze style dress with side-seam pockets. Not so long ago, I wouldn't have been drawn to this pattern, but I really enjoy wearing the Closet Case Patterns Ebony dress that I made at the end of last year so I thought I'd give this silhouette another try.

This pattern is really simple to sew - there are no darts or fastenings, just front pieces, back pieces, back straps, facings and pockets. Happily for me, that meant that I was able to sew it up at the end of last week just in time to take it away for a long weekend in Cornwall, where these photos were taken.

The instructions are clear and easy to follow. Although it has to be said that with a pattern this simple it would be hard to make the instructions complicated!

In terms of sizing, the pattern recommends a M for my bust measurement (38") and L for my waist and hips. I knew there wouldn't actually be any need to size up in the waist and hips with all the volume in this dress. I checked the finished bust measurement for the M (42") and decided that it would be bigger than I wanted so I actually ended up making a size S and just used a fractionally smaller seam allowance at the underarms (about 1.2cm instead of 1.5cm) to give a little bit more room around the bust. The finished dress fits nicely around the shoulders and bust, and as you can see there's definitely also plenty of space for my waist and hips.

I made the shorter version of the dress (view A), but lengthened it by 10cm. I would say that the illustration on the pattern envelope is a bit misleading about the length of the shorter version as it makes it look knee length, whereas the photos from Simply Sewing clearly show that it's significantly shorter than that.

The fabric I used here is some Robert Kaufman chambray. It's been sitting in my stash for almost 3 years, which I was able to work out because I won it in a giveaway from Simply Sewing with the jersey that I used to make my first Gable top back in 2016. While it's lovely fabric, I always think that black isn't the best colour on me so it took me a while to decide what to make. Recently I realised (not sure why it took me so long!) that if I used it to make a pinafore, wearing a t-shirt under it would mean that the black wouldn't be directly next to my face so would make it easier to wear. In these photos, I've paired it with my cowl neck Freya top.

If you like the look of this dress, the pattern may not be the easiest to come by being as it's from a magazine released over a year ago, but as I type there are a few listed on ebay so it's definitely not impossible to find.

All in all, I'm very happy to have used this fabric at last. The finished dress isn't the most practical thing I've ever made (in case anyone's wondering, it really isn't the best thing to wear on a breezy beach!). However, it's (unsurprisingly) very comfy and the neutral colour will mean that I can combine it with lots of tops, so hopefully it should get a decent amount of wear. Now I just need to make some plans for some more fabrics in my stash!

Simply Sewing Magazine City Backpack

Are you a fan of sewing magazines? I used to buy them quite regularly, but then started to feel like I was seeing the same (or very similar) projects repeatedly so it's been a while since I picked one up. Simply Sewing magazine issue 43 caught my attention though - it included the Sew Over It Silk Cami pattern, a pattern for a dress/top that I could see myself making and a useful looking backpack.

 

The City Backpack pattern was the project that I wanted to make most out of the three. I enjoy bag making as a bit of a break from garment sewing every now and then but haven't done much recently, and a summery backpack is always useful for day trips.

The backpack has a feature main fabric, a contrast base panel and matching contrast details, adjustable webbing straps, and is fastened with D-rings and webbing. It's also fully lined and has a zipped pocked on the inside. Press fasteners on either side of the side seams at the top of the bag are used to stop it gaping open.

I try to use bag making as an opportunity to use up bigger pieces of fabric left over from my dressmaking adventures, but I didn't have anything that was quite the right weight and print for the main fabric. I wanted something that had a bit of interest, whilst still being neutral enough not to clash horribly with too many of my dresses/tops. This lovely 'Relaxing on the beach' cotton canvas from Sew Me Sunshine fit the bill perfectly!

The base and contrast details are some denim from my stash left over from an unknown past project, and the lining is a piece of cotton twill which came from the remnant box in John Lewis ages ago (I knew that as it was a neutral spotty print it would come in useful for lining something at some point!). The hardware, notions and webbing were a mixture of things I had in stash or purchased from Jaycotts or Sew Hot.

The backpack was fairly straightforward to sew, but there were a few things about the pattern that I found slightly annoying. The main thing was that the seam allowances are 5 mm - for someone used to 1.5 cm or 1 cm in dressmaking, that seemed teeny tiny and fiddly on some steps.

I also thought it was a bit odd that the pattern had you cut out the iron-on wadding to be bigger than the pieces that you fuse it to, and then cut it down after it is fused. I'm far more used to garment sewing than bag making so maybe that's not uncommon, but I haven't had to do that in any other bags I've made, and having the wadding bigger than the fabric made it difficult not to get it stuck to either my ironing board or the iron.

There were also a couple of occasions where I felt like the pattern was relying on you having some vague idea about bag making. For example, it didn't give you any indication of how big to leave the turning gap when sewing the lining. That's the kind of thing that I would have wanted to have been given details about if this were the first bag I was making.

Having said all that, the bag turned out nicely and, as you can see, it has already been taken on its first outing on a day trip to the seaside (with my seaside print Emery dress, naturally!). I'm pleased to report that it was comfortable to wear and had plenty of space for all the essentials.

I've also already sewn up a Silk (or viscose in my case) Cami from the magazine, so I'm glad I bought this issue of Simply Sewing. Magazines can seem expensive at times, but they're worth it if you're going to make a few of the projects, don't you think?

Simply Sewing Freja Dress

If you've paid even the slightest bit of attention to the online sewing community in the last few months, then there's a certain pinafore/dunagree dress pattern that you'll be very familiar with. Part of me wanted to jump on that bandwagon, but the sensible part of me knows that I prefer dresses with more waist shaping, so I resisted temptation and kept an eye out for other pinafores instead. In fact, it may have become something of an obsession! Nothing seemed quite right though, until the Freja dress was included with issue 26 of Simply Sewing - the answer to my pinafore prayers!

The Freja dress was designed by Kirsty Hartley and was inspired by simple Scandi style. It has a bib bodice with waist darts (yay for waist shaping!), cross-back straps, wide waistband, knee-length A-line skirt and large curved patch pockets. It can also easily be made as a skirt by omitting the bib and straps.

For my version, I graded between sizes and used a 14 at the bust and 16 at the waist. The 16 would have also fitted me fine in the hips, but I chose to grade the skirt out from the 16 waist to the biggest size at the hem just to give the skirt that little bit of extra fullness.

I made a toile of the bib and waistband and the 14/16 combination worked pretty well, but the waistband didn't leave much room for tucking in a top. Because of that, for the final version I sewed the centre back zip with a slightly smaller seam allowance to give a bit of breathing space.

I also added an inch and a half to the straps because they weren't quite long enough for me. I usually need to lengthen bodices, but I didn't this time. The waistband possibly hits slightly higher on me than might be intended, but it looks and feels fine.

The instructions included with the pattern have accompanying photos and are very detailed and easy to follow. It's a fairly simple pattern too, so would be good for beginners, or it's a relatively speedy project if you've got a bit more experience.

The only thing I did differently from the instructions was to stitch the buttons straight through the straps onto the waistband rather than making buttonholes in the straps. That was initially intended to be a temporary measure to check that I had the buttons in the right position for me, but there's actually no need to undo the straps (as long as you don't mind putting the pinafore on over your head) so I'm going to be lazy and leave them as they are.

If I make another one, I'd think about using a regular lapped/centred zip in the centre back seam instead of an invisible zip. Generally, I prefer invisible zips but in my version of the Freja dress, it definitely feels like the zip has trouble getting over the bulk of the waistband seam. We'll see how it goes though!

The fabric I used is some turquoise stretch denim from Higgs and Higgs. It's excellent quality and a lovely colour, and I think it's the perfect match for this pattern - the slight stretch helps to make the pinafore really comfy.

The fabric looks great in real life but I feel I should apologise for the less-than-pristine state of it in some of these photos - apparently my camera managed to pick up creases that weren't visible to the human eye! And any marks you can see are the result of having been recently dripped on by a rain-drenched tree. I debated taking some new photos, but then I thought it would be better to show what it looks like in real life wear.

As you may have guessed by now, I really love how my Freja dress turned out, and I'd definitely make another.  I'm actually very tempted to order one of the other coloured denims from Higgs & Higgs for a second version - which one would you go for?