Rose pink linen Montana

This is a Style Arc Montana dress, made in rose linen from Fabric Godmother which I started sewing in August and finished in September.

I tried the bodice on before I attached the skirt and it looked OK, but once I'd finished the dress the armholes didn't have much leeway in them, so I cut triangular gussets on the bias, unpicked the side seam and inserted them by hand.  It was a bit of a faff, because I'd completely finished the dress (all seams overlocked), but definitely worth it because it's improved the fit significantly.  I do like this pattern, so I'll modify the armholes before I make it again.

And finally!...Now I'm all caught up with this year's knitting and sewing. 

Two more McCalls 7948 dresses

These are both the same, the first is made with fabric I bought a few years ago (I think it's a Kaffe Fassett-designed print?) I love the colours in it.

And the second is fabric which I think I bought last year, or possibly in 2019, with the intention of making it up in a 1930s / 1940s pattern, but it's quilting cotton (as is the blue chrysanths fabric) and I decided it probably wouldn't hang properly - not enough drape - so it's become this.

For both of these I modified the bodice which is now a mish-mash of sizes from 8 (armholes) to 14 (shoulders).  I also lowered the neckline and adjusted the seam allowances at the armholes and neck for bias binding rather than facing.  I may have done this for the blue and yellow striped version as well, I can't remember now!  Both of these dresses also have Bardon pockets and the skirt is 6" longer than the given pattern pieces.

Purple gingham vintage Simplicity 5921

This dress is a wearable toile - I'm going to make another version of this with shorter skirt, deeper frill and long sleeves (possibly more than one version...), but I wanted to get the yoke and armhole fit right before making one with sleeves.  I bought this gingham in John Lewis originally intending to made a shirtdress with it but never did, so it's turned into this.

This pattern was published in 1983, but there are several similar contemporary patterns - what goes around comes around!

Blue and yellow striped McCalls 7948

This started out in June as a New Look 6352, however when I tacked the sides and shoulders together for a quick try-on it was obvious that I'm not the right shape for this pattern.  The armhole shape needed changing and darting, and so did the back of the dress, there was a lot of spare fabric just being there looking surplus.  I couldn't be bothered with all this, the pattern envelope does say the dress can be made in an hour, so I already had expectations!  Fortunately I had more of this fabric and in July I came back to it and changed it.

I cut two rectangular skirt pieces from the dress I'd already cut out, a McCalls 7948 bodice (using modifications I'd previously made to this pattern), Demeter pockets and additional pieces of fabric to piece into the side of the skirt.  With the remaining fabric I cut a frill, so all in all I used the full 3.2m of this quilting cotton, which I'd had in my fabric stash for a good few years.

I do like the end result, I just wish it had only taken an hour! 

Powder pink linen Wiksten Shift dress

This is a Wiksten Shift dress which I finished at the end of June.  The length is midway between the short and long dress versions (short dress + 12cm).

I didn't cut a waist tie, but I did add inseam pockets rather than use the patch pockets that came with the pattern (I used Bardon pockets because they were to hand).  I've actually placed them a bit low, but they're useable, so I'm not going to move them!  Made with Powder Pink linen from LinenOholic - I love this colour.

This took 2.3m and is very easy to wear, either on its own, or with a long sleeved t-shirt and leggings underneath in cooler weather.

Gingham Hannah

My next dress is a Hannah, from By Hand London.  I liked this when they first issued it, but at that time they had stopped producing paper patterns and it was only available as a pdf.  Fast forward to this year when they made a paper version - yay!

This is made from cotton gingham from Minerva, which I bought last year.

The bodice should really cross the other way, but that is my fault for misreading the pattern instructions.  I also made the waist ties with a narrower hem than the pattern gives, so they are a bit wider.

I really like this and will definitely make it again, although possible a bit longer.

Peppermint / Elbe Bardon dresses

Here is another pattern which had caught my eye on Instagram and so far I've made four of them.  The first I made in May with some quilting cotton that I bought years ago and never made up because I kept changing my mind about which pattern to use.  So I finally made a decision and it became this.  The lower tier is a bit narrower than the pattern piece, because of the width of the fabric.

The next one, which I started in late May and finished in early June, was made with Coco linen from Merchant & Mills.

Bardon number three, which I made in July, was from some red cotton gingham which I bought years ago in John Lewis with no clear plan - I think it was an end of roll and reduced, I only had 1.7m, which is not a length I would have bought by choice.  Because of that I used different pockets (from a purple Simplicity gingham dress which I made in July - I'll link to it once I've written about it) - the ones which come with the pattern are quite generous.  As it was, one of the pocket pieces is made from two pieces of fabric sewn together!  The front skirt piece is also slightly narrower than the back, because of the not-really-enough length of the fabric.  For this one I modified the armholes to the next size down (although I can't now remember whether this was just for the front or the back bodice as well...), which gives a better fit.

And the last one so far is this one, which I made in August, in a lovely salmon double gauze which I bought from Fabric Godmother this summer.

The skirt pieces (tier 1) are per the pattern, but the next one down and the bottom frill I cut to use up all the fabric length.  Again, I used smaller pockets (the same ones as for the red gingham version).

And here's the pattern, which unfortunately is only available as a pdf, so I pieced the bodice together and traced it, but helpfully the dimensions are given for the skirt sections so I just used the measurements and cut them out of dot and cross paper.  (I hate piecing together A4 pdfs.)

Love it!