Christmas dresses

Using Jocelyn Proust Christmas themed Australian animal prints to make Christmas dresses has become a tradition.

This year, wombats and waratahs became a Sew Different Tulip dress for me.

The whole menagerie of Australian animals was made into another version of B6677 for Felicity.

Yes of course there was a matching mask!

If you follow me on Insta you know my dress was not as successful as Felicity’s

It seems perfectly drafted to emphasise full tummies

Sewing details

Felicity’s dress was made the same as previously except only the bodice was lined and this is style A of B6677 without the flouces. I followed The Insouciant Stitcher’s tip and used an IKEA Nattjasmin cotton/lyocell bed sheet for garment construction. Excellent lining material for quilting weight cottons!

Three dresses in and I’ve only just worked out that Felicity can pull this on without unbuttoning. Next time I’ll omit the back neck slit and button! The shiny red button above the smiley wombat does makes me smile though.

I like the smiley wombats on my dress too. Even though they are more hairy.

This is the Sew Different Tulip dress

https://sewdifferent.co.uk/tulip-dress-multisize-sewing-pattern-available-paper-download/

Mine was a size 18 which I then added a bit of extra width to after construction by taking the side seams out about 5 mm above and below the pockets (because the pockets were already sewn in). I probably could have just expanded through the waist above the pockets.

I used an olive suiting weight linen from Spotlight for the bottom band of my dress because it was in my stash, the colours worked and I didn’t have enough of my wombat fabric.

And the bias for the hem – same reasons

The ‘you can’t buy this’ tag turned out funnier than I expected – you can’t buy this and you probably don’t want to!

If there is a next time I will sew a larger size from the bust down, petite the bodice by removing 2 cm above the bust and round out the shoulder to sleeve transition.

Despite my lack of love for this dress I did end up wearing it for Christmas – for the meal prep part of the day. Then changed into the other “unsuccessful” dress for Christmas dinner. No longer unsuccessful because I saved that one from refashioning or donation with a tablecloth weight!

Pink dresses: McCalls 7922 and Butterick 6677

An invite with a request to wear something pink. Some people would add a pink accessory. Not Felicity. She needed a new pink dress.

It was no surprise that there were several pink fabrics in my stash. But, also no surprise, none of them were deemed suitable. Apart from the delightful silk charmeuse with some pink in it that I had earmarked for something else, but lets not dwell on that….

It has pockets

So for attempt #1, a light weight poly cotton gingham from Spotlight was wrestled into McCalls 7922.

McCalls 7922

I made View D in a size 14 out to a size 16 for the bust and shoulders with the neckline raised to that of a size 22. Why multi-sized? I wasn’t sure how to do an FBA on this style or how to petite the bodice so this was my fix for a fuller bust and a shorter torso.

Pretending to like it

I say wrestled because I really did not enjoy sewing this fabric. Perhaps it was the fiber composition. The end result was quite cute on but Felicity didn’t like how it felt. I’d say that was due to fiber composition, the knot and how that made it feel loose through the waist.

In other words, the dress turned out as the pattern designer intended, but that doesn’t mean it was a success! One wear and then donation was its fate.

Attempt #2 turned out so much better.

Obligatory matching mask

The fabric was a mid weight cotton woven in a very cute Australiana print (May Gibbs flannel flowers) lined with polka dot cotton voile.

Fully lined with polka dots. Because. Well. Why not?!

The pattern is Butterick 6677 and was previously used to make one of Felicity’s favourite dresses. This time I made View A in a Size 14 with an 2 cm FBA.

Butterick 6677

I lined the flounces with the same cotton voile I’d used to line the dress rather than hemming them.

Even the pockets got lined with polka dots. Love the way these two fabrics play together!

Attempt #2 went to the pink party.

This one’s a winner!