The Sew Weekly

Fabrics for the Perfect Summer Dress

The best thing about the perfect summer dress is that you get to work with some of the most perfect fabrics (at least in my opinion). I strongly believe that you can never have too much gingham in your stash. With that in mind, here are 16 other fabrics for sale at Fabric.com to use for your own perfect summer dress.

Gingham

   

From left to right: Woven 1/4 Gingham Royal Blue ($3.98/yd), Woven 1/4 Gingham Chocolate Brown ($3.98/yd), Woven 1/4'' Gingham Yellow ($3.98/yd), Woven 1/4 Gingham Orange ($3.98/yd)

Cotton Lawn

   

Left to right: Serenade Cotton Lawn Circles Brown Citrus ($5.98/yd),  Cotton Lawn Spring Floral Pink/Orange ($5.98/yd), Serenade Cotton Lawn Polka Dots Pink ($5.98/yd), Larkspur Circles Cotton Lawn Orange/Purple/White ($11.18/yd)

Seersucker

    

From left to right: Woven Seersucker Stripes Spring Blue/White ($5.98/yd), Seersucker Stripes White ($4.98/yd), Classic Seersucker Red/White ($7.98/yd)  Woven Poly/Cotton Seersucker Gingham Navy Blue ($4.48/yd)

 Eyelet

    

From left to right: Floral Eyelet Blue ($4.48/yd), Fancy Eyelet Ivory ($7.18/yd), Eyelet Hot Pink ($4.48/yd), Embroidered Puckered Eyelet Lilac ($4.48/yd)

 

Challenge: 5/30/11

This week we're making The Perfect Summer Dress -- whatever that means to you: Sleeves or sleeveless. Short or long. Full-skirted or a-line. Just make it fun!

Ask: 5/30/11

How would you describe your perfect summer dress? What's stopping you from making it?

Theme: The Perfect Summer Dress

Here in the United States, today (Memorial Day) marks the unofficial start of summer*. As a San Franciscan who is begrudginly used to the foggy summers, I've learned to ignore the name of the season and just embrace summer dresses year-round. (Case in point: This dress was from January).

For those of you who actually have seasons, summer marks a time to take out your white shoes, seersucker and, most importantly, summer dresses.

This week we're making The Perfect Summer Dress -- whatever that means to you: Sleeves or sleeveless. Short or long. Full-skirted or a-line. Just make it fun!

* For all of our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, think of this as the "Perfect Summer Dress plus Cardigan and Tights" challenge.

The "Perfect Balance" Dress

The Facts
Fabric: Thrifted tablecloth print cotton, $1
Pattern: Simplicity 2465
Year: c. 1945
Notions: vintage zipper, boning
Time to complete: 4 hours
First worn: May 2011
Wear again: YES!

Total Cost: $1

Even though I ended up with two UFOs in the process, this challenge (or rather, my final creation) afforded me with the opportunity to get excited about sewing again. I know what you're thinking: "aren't you always excited about sewing?" The answer is "mostly, yes."

I received a comment about last week's top (which I have, in fact, worn again) and my sewing burnout that forced me to think about how I approach the challenges. Amy writes:

I'd rather see you make something you like and will wear again instead of throwing something together for the sake of a challenge! I don't think anyone would be upset if you took your time and posted on Wednesday instead. It seems silly to rush through an ambitious task just to get it done "on time" when you're already feeling burnt out. Sewing should be fun! Don't make it another chore.

Amy had a very good point. Why rush something just to meet a challenge when I may never wear it again? Not only is it a waste of resources and time, but it's a bad standard to set for The Sew Weekly readers. While I tend to do things fast (that's just how I have to work), there is no point in rushing something for the sake of a challenge.

As I mentioned above, I ended up with two UFOs during this challenge. Instead of forcing myself to unhappily finish either one of them in a rush, I decided to set them aside and readdress them in the future when I had more time and more motivation.

This challenge is all about the PERFECT summer dress. I think I needed to go through those two UFOs to get to the dress that, to me, is absolutely perfect. 

I've been holding onto this 32" bust pattern for quite some time -- at least a year. When I first saw this pattern, I loved it so much that I didn't care that it would have never fit my 38" bust. When it finally was my size, I was intimidated by the instructions to add boning. After I added boning to my Eclair from the 7in7 Challenge, I knew I could tackle it.

The fabric was thrifted for a $1. You may recall that when I posted about it in my Friday Fabric Finds, I said "There's no way I can use this without looking like a tablecloth, but mark my words, I'll find a use for it." Well, I can't think of anything better than a Memorial Day dress for a picnic table print.

The pattern itself? OMG, it was a dream to construct! The only challenge came from a missing pattern piece (the lower front bodice) that I was able to reconstruct. Other than that, it was wonderful! The best thing: the bodice uses casing for the straps and is adjustable!

I love this pattern.

The photos were taken on our Memorial Day weekend trip to Monterey. It is, indeed, the perfect summer dress.

The Summer Dress for Winter | Veronica Darling

The Facts 

Fabric:  Floral knit fabric, thrifted, $2
Pattern: Sew U Home Stretch, Built by Wendy, with self drafted sleeves
Year: 2008
Notions: Elastic, from the stash, $0.20
Time to complete: 40 minutes
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? Yes, it's so comfy!

Total Cost: ~$2.20

It'll be the first week of winter in Melbourne for me here in Australia, so the idea of the perfect summer dress could be wishful thinking! However, when this theme was first mentioned, I was really excited because I knew we'd be going to my brother's wedding in Far North Queensland's Magnetic Island! It was a perfect opportunity to make a quick and easy casual dress, timely for my tropical holiday, but something that I can dream about wearing when our real summer rolls around.

For those of you who know Australia well, most of our population is spread north to south along the Eastern coast of the country, and typically the northern state of Queensland still has a winter with moderate temperatures but it's often dry and really pleasant, warm without the humidity. So Husbie and I were looking forward to our holiday to escape the chill of Melbourne.

 

Using my Built By Wendy Sew U: Home Stretch again (My Wendy Bird dress, during the Mother's Day theme, was also from this book) for this thrifted floral stretch knit, meant this dress was made in 40 minutes! I had hardly any fabric, as it was a piece I found recently at the op shop, so most of that time was working out my pattern piece placement (say that quickly!).

 

It was just enough fabric for a baby doll type dress (I used the Project #3 Dress: The Pretty Baby-doll pattern in Wendy's Book), but with built in sleeves (self drafted after realising my lack of fabric for even the separate sleeve pieces), so once I'd cut, it only took 15 minutes of sewing time. Gosh, stretch fabric can be so rewarding! I have a gorgeous project completed before an episode of Project Runway finishes!

 

The project #3 pattern in Wendy's book asks you to use elastic along the neckline, instead of the usual binding t shirt technique (if you've read the book, you'll know what I mean, sorry I'm not so good at explaining!). At first I was like, nup, I should skip it because it probably can quickly become tricky and look messy. But, I am trying to be more daring this year, and I also didn't have any spare fabric to do the binding the usual way Wendy suggests for her t shirt dresses.

 

But, I dared this time, and it wasn't difficult and the results are neat and not at all awkward! Amazing! Sewing with knits, I do use an overlockeer, but this neckline asks you to zig zag the elastic to the dress, then turn it under and topstitch the elastic (which forms a little casing I guess), and I was surprised at how neat my straight stitch machine worked it.

 

I know this length dress might be a little short for some of you, but for me, I'm daring with my sewing and my skirt length this week! Especially when the weather in Queensland is this good! Back in Melbourne I plan to wear this summer dress over wintery tights and a long sleeve t shirt & cardigan so I don't have to wait til summertime!

 

But, why did we venture out along these rocks on Magnetic Island? To show you international friends the darling Rock Wallabies! They are so friendly!

 

Wallabies are smaller than kangaroos, and just as cute, especially since this wallaby is all sleepy from the midday sun! Whilst they aren't tame creatures, they are used to visitors along this coastal park area, and don't mind posing for photos!

 

Until next week! xo

The "Summer Luvin'" Dress | Sarah Gabbart

The Facts 

Fabric: Floral polyester from Jo Ann's ($4 a yard plus 40% off with coupon - yess!)
Pattern: Cynthia Rowley Simplicity 2250
Year: c. 2010
Notions: 12" invisible zipper (from stash)
Time to complete: 4
First worn: May 2011
Wear again? Yes!

Total Cost: ~$7

There is just something about floral prints that I'm drawn to this year - especially ones with a pretty watercolor effect! So it's no surprise that I did one of these when I saw this pretty fabric from across the room. Upon closer inspection, it was made of polyester. After a bit of mental back and forth about the horrors of this material, I decided to go for it! 

Things I have learned about polyester: 1) it's slippery and 2) it's hot to wear outside. Sewing with it was a bit of a challenge because it slips and slides all over the place when you're trying to cut it. When you're done with it, riding your bike down the street to take a photo is a sweating situation. That said, this might be a perfect vacation date-night dress - I can see it fitting in perfectly in breezy Mexico for an after-hours walk on the beach (Hint hint husband person).

Yep. It's a cheeseburger bell. 

Simplicity's Cynthia Rowley dress pattern, however, performed like a champ! The sizing was dead on, the construction (even the crazy darts) was easy and the pattern has enough variation to make again later. 

In conclusion - I like this dress a lot. It's bright, fun and fits nicely! Would I wear this dress again? Absolutely! Will I ride my bike in 90 degree weather in it? No. But I would in a linen version. 

The "Raspberry Sorbet" Dress | Debi Fry

The Facts

Fabric: 2.5 metres linen-look synthetic fabric £6
Pattern: McCall 5834
Year: c.  1941
Notions: Vintage zipper from charity shop £0.05

Time to complete: 8 hours

Wear again? YES!!!! I love it!!!!

Total Cost: ~£6.50

This is the perfect pick-me-up dress! First off, thank you for all your sweet comments last week! I am definitely feeling much better (and like I can tackle anything)!  This week I decided to pick the easiest looking pattern that I have (I tend to like really complicated patterns :)  And I'm so glad I picked McCall 5384 to make!

 
I really love the pockets on this dress and the shoulder yoke details.  It was fairly straight forward to make--though I did stumble a bit on the pocket instructions but eventually figured it out (my problem was that I hadn't clipped the corners to the edge of the seam allowance allowing them to be turned inside without bunching up the outside).

The pockets are pleated at the top and the skirt is attached to the bodice with an overlap seam.

I love how streamlined the back looks:

The bodice darts line up with the back seams.  I decided to go sans belt with this for the photos because I think it looks great without the belt but I bet it would look really cute with a matching belt too!

This is the perfect summer dress for me because I think it can be layered with all sorts of jackets, sweaters (it doesn't get too hot here) AND it has pockets!!

What is your perfect summer/winter dress?

The "blue & white parasol" dress | Adey Lim

 
The Facts

Fabric:  Blue and white stripe cotton from Spotlight $8.50 for 3.2 metres at 30% off rolls end sale!
Patterns: Kansas City Star mail order pattern 3257
Year: c. 1958 (according to postage stamp)
Notions: Invisible zipper, 5 vintage buttons and interfacing $1.50
Time to complete: 6 hours
First worn: 31 May 2011
Wear again? Yes!

Total Cost: ~$10

The little isle I call home is one degree north of the equator. We do not experience the four seasons. Instead, what we have are 365 days of summer with an average of 179 days of cool rainy days. While all the dresses I have made are essentially good for the weather here, I wanted this dress to spell summer fun for me. 

Essentially,  it has to be sleeveless, fun and versatile enough to be wore to the beach or a family restaurant. My family love strolling along the beach on weekends but sometimes I feel overdressed for it after a shopping trip or church service. This dress needs to fill the gap. It has to be a fun dress. A sundress.

In terms of fabric choice, the parasol print of bright blue & white stripes or red & white stripes immediately came to mind.

When I visited Spotlight, I couldn't find any red and white stripe fabric (Isn't it like an essential basic print?) but found this blue & white stripe fabric hidden right at the bottom and it was the exact shade of blue I had in mind! I'm so glad the last 3.2 metres waited for me, the only other option left in the store was a hunter green and white stripe print which just wasn't summer. And because the store was having a rolls end sale, I ended up getting a 30% discount on the fabric! How wonderful is that?

I have a bunch of vintage mail order patterns in my stash and was so happy that I finally got around to sewing from one of these. The pattern pieces from Kansas City Star 3257 were unprinted but came with notches and perforations. 

I've never heard of the Kansas City Star mail order patterns until I got mine off ebay sometime back.  My google search was unfruitful, there wasn't much information on this brand of vintage patterns. But, according to quilting sites, the paper published more than 1000 quilt patterns from 1928 to 1961 and many of these patterns were submitted by readers. The original envelope was postage stamped 1958 so I assume that's the year this pattern was published. I'm not sure if it's the same with other mail order patterns (I certainly hope not!) but the instructions were really scarce to the extend that there were only ten instruction points for constructing the entire dress and a bolero. 

 

What really attracted me to the pattern were the cute pockets but after reading through the instructions and looking at the pattern pieces, I realized that it only made provisions for mock pockets and if I wanted a real pocket, I had to draft my own pocket pieces. That wasn't difficult, I just had to borrowed the pocket pieces from another pattern and use it for this dress. The pockets however weren't sandwiched between seams and the directions given were to cut a slit on the front skirt fabric and insert the pocket. Oh gosh! Cutting on the front skirt pieces was frightening as I didn't have enough fabric to cut another skirt piece if things didn't work out. So I tried doing the pocket on scraps first before actually making the slits. Still, cutting the fabric felt unsettling but in the end I am glad I did cos the pockets turned out really cute! For contrast and a dash of fun, I used orange vintage buttons on the dress.

 To make full use of the stripes design, the front bodice, front skirt pieces and back skirt pieces were cut on the bias while the back, shoulder straps and front waist piece on the vertical. I love that all stripes that were meant to match did. Those on the skirt met on the centre front seam, centre back seam with invisible zipper and the side seams. And I must confess I had great fun matching them! As with most patterns, I had to take in the sides to adjust the fit of the dress but matching stripes made it more challenging this time round.

 Out to the beach we go- the parasol dress and I! Thank God for a sunny day as this time, I finally managed a shot with sandcastles  in my fun dress!

Body Image & Sewing

My latest article, Hey New Mom: You're Fat!, is live at xoJane. It's a bit more serious than my other xoJane pieces and it deals with my postpartum body image issues. Sewing plays a big part in making me feel better.

I had never been that concerned with my body (I was always slightly overweight but not so large that I was unhappy) and felt that if I had to choose, I'd easily pick personality over a good body. And guess what? It turns out I didn't even have to make that decision myself! It was like my butt and my stomach had my best interests in mind and decided it was time to really let my personality shine. 

People ask how I lost the weight. I'd love to say that I just started eating better and excercising. But, in fact, I joined Jenny Craig. My weight gain (other than the pregnancy weight) was really due to the fact that I could (and would) out-eat my husband and really anyone at the table. I needed to control my portions (Jenny Craig meals are very small portions of prepackaged food) without thinking. And, I really just needed a jumpstart. The big fear is that once you go off the program and start eating "real" food, you'll gain the weight back. But, I started eating normally in February and have continued to lose weight.