And The Manic Summer Sewing Continues

9.02.2013


When Tasia announced the newest pattern from Sewaholic,  the Saltspring dress, I immediately felt my heart go pitter-patter. 

It. Is.  Gorgeous.  

And I was particularly smitten with the maxi length version of the dress (are you seeing a trend in my sewing lately?).  Despite the fact that I am usually a late-adopter of most popular patterns, I immediately ordered the pattern and purchased some knit fabric to sew it up in.  The fabric is a cotton/lycra blend that I ordered from Girl Charlee and let me tell you, this dress requires a lot of fabric!  I think I ordered something along the lines of four yards and I only had a tiny bit left over.  That’s a whole lot of fabric, ladies!


For the sizing I went with the recommended size based on my bust measurement and I didn’t grade out at the hips like I sometimes do since the skirt on this dress is rather wide and flowy.  The dress was simple enough to put together (especially since I left off the zipper since I made my version with a knit fabric) but considering it that it is rather simple to put together, it has some really nice touches.  Like the blouson top that never needs to be adjusted and the unique way that the back is finished to allow for this. 


My ties, like so many other peoples, came out super-long so I lopped a bit off of each of them after the dress was finished.  I also opted to leave the hem raw since the length was perfect as it was and would have been too short if I had hemmed it (I later found out that this dress is made for someone around 5'4" and I'm 5'6".  Always good to know for future reference).  I also made my length of elastic a bit shorter than was called for but that was mostly because that's all that I had laying around.  I will say that if you’re worried about fitting something perfectly, this is a great dress to make.  First of all, the ties on the top give you a little wiggle room with the length and the general fit of the dress and the elastic waist gives you some definite leeway when it comes to the fit around the waist (plus, it gives you some leeway after you eat a giant piece of cake…not that I would ever do such a thing).  I was originally hoping to make one more version of this dress in voile before the end of the summer but I’m quickly realizing that that might not happen.  Damn you other obligations - like washing dishes and feeding the children!

Sadly, the short-lived manic summer sewing may be coming to an end.

P.S. There's a sewalong on the Sewaholic blog with some great tips if you're interested in making your very own Saltspring dress.

9 comments:

  1. This is lovely! What a great ides to do it in a knit - I can imagine the pattern lends itself very well to that fabric. I've done a Saltspring myself, the knee-length version, and I love it so I'm definitely going to do a maxi version for next summer.

    Fab work! x

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  2. Love the color of the dress! Great job!

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  3. wow, this dress looks so beautiful on you. it looks so great with your (incredibly luscious!) brown hair, too. :) lovely.

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  4. Linda3.9.13

    great job and really good color on you..

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  5. 4 yards? Holy cow, if you needed that much, at my size I'd need about 10! Looks great on you though :o)

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  6. Gorgeous! Such a beautiful pattern and it looks amazing on you! And I'm with you - gosh darned housework and job that takes me away from my sewing!

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  7. 4 yards seems like SO much fabric, not even sure I have enough floor space to lay that out in my house! Ha. The dress looks great on you, though; and it looks so comfy I bet it feels like wearing pajamas!

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  8. Beautiful - I wouldn't have thought to do it in a knit but that's lovely. Great colour on you and yeah, this pattern looks like a winner, I loved it right away too.

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  9. Ohhh I'm soo glad to see someone make this out of knit! I have some yellow knit to make one and I was a bit scared it wouldn't look good! I think it will now, although I'm gonna make the short length. awesome work!

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