Sew Dolly Clackett dress no. 1

Having sewn nothing at all during the first three months of this year (I was knitting though), April has seen me cut out and sew five dresses so far and I have another laid out on the floor waiting for me to finish typing and get the scissors out.

The first to make it to this blog is an Anna maxi made from floral fabric which I bought on Goldhawk Road last year (or maybe it was early this year?).  As soon as I saw Roisin's Georgia dress I knew that I wanted an Anna maxi from that same fabric and spotted an end-of-a-roll of it in Toni's, so after a bit of friendly haggling over the price - there was more on the roll than I needed - it came home with me and I've finally got around to making it up.  Having a week off work over the long Easter weekend has given me the time to get quite a bit of sewing done and I've realised that the dresses I've made have all had some Dolly Clackett influence.  Dolly's was the first sewing blog I discovered last year, just by clicking a link in someone else's blog actually, and as a fellow dress lover I have been inspired by lots of her makes.

To celebrate Roisin's upcoming wedding, a competition has been launched, and there is now a fabulous selection of dresses appearing in the flickr group.  I'm not really one for joining in sew-alongs or knit-alongs, mainly because I have enough deadlines to work to in the day job, knitting and sewing are for relaxation; but occasionally serendipity intervenes, as it has here, when I noticed that all this month's makes had a Dolly Clackett element to them.  And since I've had so much inspiration from her sewing I've succumbed and entered.  Also, I love seeing what other bloggers make and it's only fair to return the favour I think.

I realise that this blog needs some serious work on it, but that will have to wait until I replace my PC, which has decided it doesn't want to talk to blogger anymore, and typing posts on an old and very slow laptop is time-consuming, but at least it works!   I'm digressing here aren't I?

Back to the dress.  Here she is.


Tropicanna dress

Back view

I love the Anna pattern - this is my fourth take on this dress - and I decided I wanted it to have a V-back which I think has worked out pretty well.  I now feel the need to make more maxi dresses for the summer and fortunately already have some patterns which have maxi versions, so there will be more appearing here over the next few months.  The fabric on my floor is calling me now, so I'm going to cut out my second Emery.  The first one will be for my next blog post. :-)

Update May 2017
Much as I loved this with both a v-neck back and v-neck front, I found that it slipped off my shoulders rather too easily unless I was vertical (when gravity would keep it in place), so last year I unpicked the fron bodice and cut a replacement with the bateau neckline option and this has solved the falling-off-shoulders problem!