I’m back on the blog with this grey dress I sewed in February/March. I wanted to sew a dress I could wear during winter. I used this comfy grey fabric, which is quite thick, and a little bit stretchy. I bought it in a market in Spain in a stall that only sold small pieces of fabric. The one I chose was 1.5 x 1.5 m, and that was just enough to make my dress. It cost me only 1€ so in the end, the fabric was cheaper than the thread!
I wanted a dress with a sash. I‘ve seen online several examples that I liked, but when I saw some versions of the Meridian dress from papercut patterns on Instagram, I decided to make one inspired on it. I really liked the wrap effect at the front. However, I decided to make it more fitted, with a V neck and I changed the shape of the skirt.
Pattern making:
1) For the top of the dress, I first drew the pattern from a long sleeves top I have in my wardrobe. I laid my top flat and I folded it in half in the middle. I traced along the border and along the seam of the shoulders. I shortened the pattern at the bottom so that it would end at my waist, and I opened the neckline a bit more.
2) I added a 10 cm wide stripe on the bottom centre of the pattern. I made it 90 cm long, but I would recommend to make it longer so that there's enough length to tie it, especially if your waist is larger and/or if you want the end of the sash to be longer than on my dress. I also extended the width of the pattern on the other side. I added 10 cm at the waist and 3 cm at the sleeve, as in picture 2.
3) I rounded the corner of the sash. Then I made a toile of the top of the skirt. I sewed the top of the skirt as explained below and I tried it on. I figured out that there was to much fabric on the breast and I wanted it more fitted. Therefore I traced the center of the front top again so that its more fitted (as indicated by the dashed line on picture 3).
4) I obtained a pattern like the one on picture 4. The length marked A will be used to make the pattern of the skirt.
5) For the back top piece, I didn't make any adjustment compared to the pattern I traced from my long sleeve top (apart from shortening it so that the bottom ends on my waist). The length marked B will be used to make the pattern of the skirt.
6) I traced the pattern of the sleeve using my long sleeve top.
7) Then I extended and widened the rounded part of the sleeve with the aim of making gathers on the shoulders. When you make the toile, make sure the rounded part of the sleeve is long enough to make gathers. If not, extend it more.
8) You'll obtain a pattern similar to that on picture 8.
9) For the skirt, you need to trace rectangles using your hips measurement, as indicated in picture 9.
10) Then you need to mark the folds and darts on these rectangles. Use the formula on picture 10 to calculate the width of the darts and the folds, and place them as on the picture.
11) Trace the pattern of the pockets the size you want.
At first, I wanted to add a zip on the back, and that's why the back patterns are made of 2 pieces. But if you're using a stretch fabric, you won't need any zip and therefore you can combine the back pieces to have only one back top piece and one back skirt piece.
Making the dress:
1. Cut the different pieces leaving a seam allowance around each:
sleeve x2
front top x2
back top x2
front skirt x2
back skirt x2
lining x1
pockets x4
Mark the centre of the sleeves on the curved part, as well as the centre of the front skirt. Mark the folds and the darts on the front and back skirt. Mark where the pockets will be on all your skirt pieces.
To cut the lining, fold your fabric and lay the centre of your front top piece along the fold. Trace along the neckline, starting from the centre. Once you reach the shoulder, place the corresponding back top piece so that both are facing and touching at the shoulder. Trace along the neckline until you reach the center back and continue on 10 cm along the center back. Trace the parallel to the line you've just traced, 5 cm away. Cut along the lines you've just traced.
2. Sew the darts of the 2 back skirt pieces. Press the seams open.
3. Pin the folds of the front skirt piece. They should be towards the outside on the wrong side of the fabric. This way, they will face the center on the right side of the fabric. Sew the folds in place in the seam allowance.
4. Place a pocket on each side of the front skirt piece, right sides together. Sew the pockets to the skirt and turn them out. Press the seams open.
5. Place one pocket on each side of the back skirt pieces, right sides together. Sew each pocket to each back skirt piece. Turn out the pockets and press the seams open.
6. Lay the front skirt piece, right side towards the top, with the pockets turned out. Place on top the 2 back skirt pieces, pockets turned out, wrong side towards the top. Line up, pin and sew together the sides of the skirt and the edges of the pockets. Press the side seams of the skirt open.
7. Lay a front top piece, right side facing up. Fold the stripe in 2 along the longer side, right sides facing each other. Sew along the edge of the stripe to form a tube. Before you reach the bottom, finish with a diagonal seam so that the end is in the shape of a triangle. Turn the stripe on the right side, and press it. Repeat the same for the second front top piece.
8. Lay the 2 front top pieces on top of each other, right sides fascing each other. Line up and pin along the centre side of the 2 pieces and sew the 2 pieces together. Press the seam open.
9. Lay the front top piece, right side facing up. Place on top the 2 back top pieces, wrong side towards the top, lining up at the shoulders. Pin and sew along the shoulders then press the seams open.
10. Increase the stitch length to the maximum on your sewing machine. Sew a line along the curved edge of the sleeves in the seam allowance. Sew a second line, parallel to the first one, inside the seam line you've traced. Pull the top threads on one side to make the gathers ans spread them along the seams.
11. Place the top piece, right side facing up, with the seams opened at the shoulders. Place on top the gathered sleeve, wrong side facing up. Pin the curved part of the sleeve along the curved part of the top. Start pinning the centre of the sleeve at the shoulder seam. Then, pin the corners of the sleeves with the corners of the top piece. Pin the the curved part of the sleeve that is not gathered to the top piece. Finally spread the gathers and pin them to the top piece. Sew along the curved part of the sleeve. Turn the sleeve out and press the seam open. Seam rip the seam that was used to make the gathers and that is visible on the right side of the dress. Repeat the process for the second sleeve.
12. Lay the top piece, open at the shoulders, right side facing up. Fold it, right sides together at the center of the sleeves. Line up the sides and the bottom of the sleeves. Pin and sew along these lines. Press the seams open.
13. Lay the skirt piece open, right side facing up. Place on top the top piece, open, wrong side facing up. Line up the two pieces at the waist. Make sure to put the sash away from the waist. Line up the side seams of the skirt with that of the top. Also, line up the centre of the front skirt to the centre seam of the top. Pin and sew along the waist. Press the seam open.
14. Here I have 2 pieces for the lining, but you should have only one. That's because I initially planned to do it differently. So I had to sew the two pieces together but you won't have to do this if you followed the instructions on how to cut the lining piece at the beginning.
15. Place the lining along the neckline, right sides together, from the front to the center back. Pin and sew along the edge. With scissors, make some notches in the seam allowance so that the curve is well defined when you turn the lining inside. Cut the lining at the centre back. Turn out the lining towards the inside of the dress and turn out the corners at the centre back to define them well. Press along the neckline to flatten the seam.
16. Close the dress at the back, right sides together. Pin and sew along the centre back, from the lining o the bottom. Press the seam open.
17. With the lining towards the inside, sew a few millimetres away from the edge of the neckline so that the lining stays in place towards the inside. Start at the centre back, and sew all along the neckline until you reach the centre back again.
18. Sew an hook and eye on the corners of the centre back, so that you can close the dress at the neck.
19. Finally, hem the end of the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt. I made an invisible hem for the first time, using a special presser foot, and I'm quite happy about the result!
And you're done! You can make the tie either at the front or at the back, however you prefer.
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