In my teens, twenties and early thirties I always had a White-based cotton shirtdress for wearing in the Summer. Of late those dresses have all gone and with so much of this charming fabric available to me I wanted to revive the practice of a White-based Summer shirtdress in my wardrobe.

Without a doubt, the Penny dress by Sew Over It is one of my TNT dresses. Whenever I feel in need of an easy make/palate cleanser, I turn to the Penny or my hack of it. I last made a Penny at the end of May (Lemons Ten-a-Penny) and having recently spent time on the new and somewhat more technically testing Siena, I decided to have an easier time with the Penny.

Originally I had over 10 metres by 150cms wide of the Lily of the Valley printed cotton inherited from my friend who passed away in 2010. Even after making the Siena and cutting out Penny, there is still some 5 metres left. I am not sure what else I will make with the fabric but there will definitely be a blouse – maybe a Libby by Sew Over It or my own Blouse hack – with frills!

There is not much to say about my Penny dress. I cut a standard size 20. I always double the fabric for the yoke, ignore the back neck facing, cut the skirt in 3 or 4 panels, stitch using French seams, put concealed pockets in the side seams and finish the armholes with narrow bias binding.

Again, this time the button band was narrow and as I can easily put the dress on over my head I decided to forego buttonholes and stitched the buttons in place through all thicknesses. I used more of the 4-hole green buttons, the same as was used on the Siena dress. I cannot remember where the buttons came from but there are still sufficient left to put on a blouse. The narrow hem was first overlocked and then turned up by ¼ inch before machining in place.

After a few hours here is another Penny hot off the sewing machine.

Project #45 of 2020, completed 31st July.

Having restored my confidence a little by sewing the latest Montana dress, now it was the time to try out the Siena Dress from the Summer Dreaming e-book by Sew Over It.

“The Siena Dress is the ultimate button-up sundress, with a fitted bodice with sweetheart neckline, shoulder straps, and a floaty gathered skirt. The bodice is shaped with princess seams at the front, and a fun shirred panel at the back – making fitting that little bit easier. Your choice of skinny rouleaux or wider straps can be adjusted to fit with sliders, meaning no slipping off your shoulders. The full skirt features roomy patch pockets, perfect for your sunnies. Siena also comes with the option to make it as a top and a skirt, perfect for pairing with your other Summer Dreaming makes!”

The main feature of the dress is the shirred back panel of the bodice and since I have not used this method since my teens, now would be a good time to revisit the technique.

I cut out the pattern from a length of White cotton printed with Lily of the Valley motifs. I have owned this fabric for at least nine years as it was part of a stash left to me by a dear friend who passed away in 2010. There were originally at least ten metres of this very wide fabric so there was no doubt that I had sufficient for at least two new dresses!

To begin, I made a test piece of shirring on a scrap piece but this did not gather at all. Back to the drawing board. I visited several youtube videos including one given by The Stitch Sisters which proved very helpful in learning how to shirr by machine before trying again on my scrap fabric. After a couple of trials I had it sussed and then shirred the entire panel ready for inclusion to the bodice.

I made the narrow straps and used the brassiere findings of fine clear plastic rings and sliders so that the straps will be adjustable. Once I had a fitting I decided that I needed much wider straps (circa 2 inches) to provide coverage of my bra straps that are wider than usual with lace trimming.

I cut a size 20 at the top of the bodice panels and graded out for my waist. I pieced together the various panels for the bodice and basted together with a long stitch. The first fitting was rather amusing as the shaping over the bust was rather extreme (think early days of Madonna and conical shaping!) but with the 6 seams of the bodice it was relatively simple to adjust the fit.

Having refined the fit I copied those adjustments onto new pattern pieces for the centre front panels and side front panels before cutting a second bodice to use as lining. I made the wide straps and tacked them into place before attaching the bodice lining as per the pattern instructions.

The pattern instructions suggest that you prepare the skirt panels before making up the bodice but as I was not making a toile, I wanted to check out the bodice first rather than prepare a skirt that was not used.

Having completed the bodice I now made up the skirt. I cut all the skirt panels to a size 26 as I had plenty of fabric and wanted to ensure a full skirt. I joined the skirt panels with French seams and made the two patch pockets. They were placed as indicated by the markings on the pattern. Once completed I felt that the pockets could do with being raised by 1 – 1.5 inches so have marked the pattern accordingly.

There is a 2 inch wide piece of interfacing on each leading edge of the front skirt panels to support the buttonholes and buttons. Gathering stitches are run the entire length of the waistline. Matching up the notches was straightforward and I particularly liked the suggestion to use a narrow zig-zag stitch when attaching the back skirt panel to the shirred section. Prior to reading the instructions I had wondered how this part of the waistline seam would be achieved.

I finished the waistline seam and skirt hem with overlocking. The facings are turned back and stitched in place over the waistline seam. The 2 cms hem was turned up and machine top stitched in place.

For the buttons and buttonholes I decided to ignore the pattern markings for only 4 buttons. Instead I placed 6 buttons on the bodice (to avoid any gaping) with 6 on the skirt. The bodice buttons are placed 1 and 7/8ths inches apart whilst those on the skirt are 2 inches apart. I had only many of this particular button in my stash and will be using some more on the next project.

Although not suggested in the instructions, I top stitched 1/8th inch from the edge around the entire bodice edges and along the front edges of the skirt panels. As I had used a stable cotton fabric this dress was an easy though not quick sew. Now that I have refined the fit, the next iterations should not take quite so long. I plan to make another but next time in a dark background print or possibly a plain cotton, I will see what I have in my stash!

Project #44 completed 21st July 2020

I think that the Montana Dress by Style Arc must be counted as one of my favourite TNT patterns. After the disaster that was the un-birthday dress I wanted to make a dress where I was sure of a positive outcome and this certainly fit the bill.

The sewing machine was still threaded with a Deep Cerise Pink thread and I really wanted a new Red Dress so I chose this beautiful Red Paisley printed viscose that I bought recently from The Fabric Room. I purchased 3 metres at a base price of £10.80 before the addition of Post, packaging and VAT.

I decided to repeat the previous iteration of the skirt with a deep frill at the hem. This time I also added a self-tie belt at the side seams so that I could draw in the dress and ‘improve’ the silhouette.

I used my standard gathering technique for attaching the main skirt panels to the raised waistline seam of the bodice. However, for the deep frill at the hem, I used the Brother Ruffler (pleating) foot. This foot looks complicated as there are many parts to the ‘contraption’.

The foot will make a small pleat every single, six or twelve stitches and secure them. You can also feed a separate layer of fabric through the foot at the same time and thus attach a pleated trim to a flat fabric in one pass through the foot. For my frill I used the six stitch spacing and it was a dream to have all those little pleats accurately made – and so quick!

For the ties I cut two lengths of fabric 4 inches wide. I made a narrow seam with right sides together and stitched closed at one end. I used the ‘Turn it All’ tube turner to turn the ties right side out – in a flash! I love this piece of sewing kit. I set the ties into the fashion fabric side seams and stay stitched the ends inside to the front seam allowance to ensure that they automatically turned to the back of the dress.

I used my self-drafted pocket pattern to make concealed side seam pockets that are tacked to the waist seam to prevent them flapping about inside the skirt. To ensure that I did not repeat the error of having the pockets facing the wrong way and showing a contrast fabric, this time I cut all pocket pieces from the fashion fabric.

Once again the bodice was lined with plain ivory viscose voile (also purchased from The Fabric Room). I added a skirt lining that was attached to the bodice lining. The lining was only stitched to the fashion fabric at the neckline and armholes. The hem of the skirt lining was finished with some pretty lace from my stash and a row of wavy line decorative stitching.

I am really pleased with the outcome of this dress. It fits well with the addition of the self ties and is so comfortable – secret pyjamas – whilst looking very stylish. This is most definitely a hit and counts as my ‘birthday dress’

Project #43 completed 11th July 2020

Yet another year and so now it is time to make a new dress. I would use the Vogue 8577 that I have made in the past, both in its original form and also ‘hacked’

As the last time I made the dress was “pre-lockdown weight gain” I re-drafted the bodice and added some extra to the side seams for ‘ease’.

Having made up a toile in calico I reduced the amount of gathers into the front yoke and relocated the fullness into the waist dart. I had previously raised the centre front neckline and I kept this on the new bodice pattern as I feel more comfortable with that neckline. The bodice would be self-lined with the printed viscose and I planned to add pockets in the skirt. I decided to copy the design of pockets from Simplicity 8910. I would make a decision regarding a lining for the skirt as the construction progressed.

This year’s dress would be made in a bold abstract floral print viscose bought from The Textile Centre. I bought 4 metres at £5.99/metre so total cost of £26.76 excluding p&p.

The Textile Centre described the fabric as – “It has a stunning floral print in a fire inspired colourway. This 100% spun viscose is a lightweight spun viscose dress fabric which is heavier and more opaque than our usual spun viscose. Viscose/Rayon is a semi man made fibre, so is prone to shrinkage, wash before cutting on a cool 30° temp. “

So with my plans all set, I began by cutting out the two sets of bodice pieces, front bodices, yokes and back bodices. I found that I could not use the skirt lining pattern pieces from Vogue 8577 so instead reverted to my TNT of the Penny by Sew Over It skirt pattern, cut into 4 panels which would also help in setting side seam pockets.

This fabric was very slippery and was a real pain to try and control whilst cutting out. In the end what I had to do was to spray starch each cut out piece then replace the pattern and re-cut to size.

I stated to sew the bodice together and at fitting discovered that the top was miles too big. I need not have enlarged the pattern at all. I enlarged the darts and took in both bodice and lining at the side seams. Now it was a little better but nowhere near what I had planned.

Onto the skirt which bearing in mind the bias seams, I should have constructed first to allow time for the bias to drop. Whatever – onwards! I added the pockets as per the ones used in the previous Simplicity 8910, forgetting that these are drafted to be set into a dress that has a raised empire line seam – thus the pockets sat far too low. At this time I discovered that I had French seamed the centre front of the skirt so that the dress could no longer be button through from bodice to skirt.

Having allowed a couple of days for the bias to drop I found that the side seams had dropped a good 2 inches. As the hemline itself was beautifully level I overlocked and turned up a narrow hem having decided to adjust the level at the waistline. I machine basted a new waistline and trimmed away the excess. This had the added advantage of raising those set-too-low-down pockets!

I attached the amended skirt to the waistline only to discover that the waistline of the bodice had also dropped and was now a good 1 inch below my natural waist. I re-stitched the skirt to the bodice by taking a wider seam allowance and then overlocked the seam to neaten. . The skirt was now a relatively short length of just 26 inches – well above my desired length.

By now we are well past my birthday and you may have guessed that I am thoroughly disenchanted with the dress. Even as I write this post, the bias of the skirt is continuing to drop. It fits only where it touches and will probably be donated very soon to a charity shop. Meantime, as a last resort I plan to make an obi-style commerbund/belt which will, I hope, cover up the waistline and turn a ‘disaster’ into a feature!

Project #42 completed 5thJuly 2020