How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Since 2013, I have made a total of 8 garments using my favorite pattern Butterick 5450. In 2013 I made four dresses using mostly summer prints in woven cotton and linen. You can read them here, here and here. I also made a holiday dress and the top version using fabrics more suited for fall. And when I participated in Pattern Review's Sewing Bee, I used that pattern to meet the refashion challenge.
And the latest addition to this ever growing collection was sewn out of desperation. Leave it to the husband to give me 48 hours notice of an event that we needed to attend. Why not wear one of those Butterick dresses, you may ask. Well, because of the print and fabric they looked a bit too casual looking. But a more important reason is the fit. Looks like my sweet tooth finally caught up with me. I had to go one size up for this latest version.
This beautiful silk twill fabric has been in my stash for several years now. I purchased this from Gorgeous Fabrics and could not decide on what to do with it. Being silk, it has a sheen to it and is quite lightweight.
To add some body to the main bodice fabric, I decided to underline it with a woven fusible interfacing, specifically this Pro-Sheer interfacing purchased from Fashion Sewing Supply. I love this interfacing as there is no need for pre-treatment.
I just cut the bodice patterns out of the main silk fabric and the interfacing, fused them together and then treated them as one.
For the bodice, the pleats had to be folded from the outside (the right side of the fabric). I didn't want to put any markings on the silk so I just finger-pressed along the pleat lines on the pattern while it was pinned to the fabric.
For the skirt portion, I used another fabric from my stash but I cannot remember where I got it from. I did not label it so I'm not sure what kind it is but it is medium weight woven, feels like twill but with a silky sheen. It looks like dark taupe in color and coordinates really well with the multicolor bodice.
So here is my dress and I'm so happy with how it came out.
Isn't it wonderful when you have a tried and true pattern that you can use to sew up a dress quickly. And you know the finished garment will fit and look great like this one does. I have to restrain myself when shopping on the EOS site . She has such nice fabrics. I really like the silk print you used for the top of this dress.
ReplyDeleteYes it is! I wish though I have more patterns I can call TNT. I'm the same way about EOS. There was a time I had to stop checking her new arrivals as it was hard to resist temptation!
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