I know, I know, I thought that I had finished making the Montana dress for a while. Catherine’s birthday is on Saturday and I happened to have 6 metres of this fabric – so I decided to make her another.
The fabric came from Rainbow Fabrics as part of a ‘haul’ of viscose prints that I wanted to make up into dresses for the coming Autumn season. I purchased 6 metres at £3.99/metre of this particular print. Unfortunately it turned out to be rather larger scale than I was expecting and therefore not appropriate for the pattern I had originally planned.
This dress is planned for Autumn wear, to add some extra substance and warmth I have therefore added a full lining for both the bodice and the skirt.
Full lining in Viscose Voile
The lining is made from some more of the Ivory Viscose Voile that I purchased some time ago and has been a great staple for linings on my viscose dresses. All seams have been overlocked which I hope will enable the dress to be washed and worn for many seasons to come.
Necklace included in Birthday Gift
I included a necklace in the parcel that I sent to Catherine. I am sure with the addition of a turtle neck sweater worn under the dress or a cardigan worn over the top combined with opaque tights, the dress will be a great drop of ‘sunshine’ in the sometimes gloomy weather days ahead.
The ‘Moira’ dress is my hack combination of the Montana by Style Arc and ‘Hannah’ from By Hand London. The ‘Moira’ #1 was so successful that I wanted to make another with just a couple refinements to the fit. For this version I made a ½ inch full bust adjustment and trimmed down the side seams of the bodice and sleeves. Once again I used the long skirt with attached deep frill and finished the bodice with two self-ties.
Fabric used was a very colourful Mosaic Floral viscose from Rainbow Fabrics which was reduced to just £2.74 per metre. I used some of my stock Ivory Viscose Voile to line the bodice. To ensure there was no ‘creeping’ of the Ivory colour showing through at the neckline, I added wide ‘facings’ of the printed viscose which were stitched in place to the bodice lining.
Construction was fairly straightforward and I am very pleased with the results of my tweeks!
Order of work: Once stitched, I trimmed the seam allowance of the bodice with pinking shears and pressed them open and flat. The neckline was under stitched and the self-fabric ties were inserted into the side seams. The armscyes and Empire waistlines were stitched together within the seam allowances. Once the sleeves had been inserted, the seam allowances were then neatened with the overlocker.
The front and back skirt panels were each cut 40 ins wide and I used my standard side seam pocket bag pattern. The skirt panels were gathered at the top using a stitch length of 5.00. The hem frills were cut 12 ins deep by 3 x the width of the fabric of 60 ins. Again I used the ruffler foot to pleat up the frill using a stitch length of 4.00 and pleats every 6 stitches.
Moira # 2 in Mosaic Floral Viscose
This dress will be a delight to wear with my Baked Pink Western Jacket or Pink Ponte ‘Jenna’ cardigan.
Whilst it is evidenced by the fact that I have made 7 versions of the Montana dress by Style Arc, I would like to have something similar but with sleeves. I noted the Demeter dress by Anna Allen was very similar to the style I wanted to achieve but was loathe to purchase yet another pattern with all the pdf construction and fitting time required for a new pattern. ‘Impatience’ is my middle name!
Demeter has several features that I wanted to reproduce so using the line drawing as inspiration, I decided to try and draft something on those lines using a ‘Montana’ and a ‘Hannah’ by By Hand London designs combination.
Drafting the new ‘Moira’ pattern:- Using the Montana Front bodice to establish the neckline, empire waistline and bust dart, I overlaid with the Hannah using the centre front line as the match point. This gave me the amended shoulder line and armscye. I then laid down the Montana Back bodice, again overlaid with the Hannah to obtain the matching shoulder line and back armscye. I used the sleeve from the Hannah, the skirt panels from the Montana with self-drafted hem frill and my own drafted pocket and ties. So this dress is a real ‘Heinz’ pattern.
Using some lightweight calico I quickly made a toile of the bodice to check for fit. Not bad. I needed to make a forward shoulder adjustment and add a little to the side seam for the front bodice but other than that it was fine so I went ahead and cut out the dress. I used this Navy background Viscose, 3m bought at £13.47 from Rainbow Fabrics.
Navy Background Floral Viscose from Rainbow Fabrics
I like this fabric very much although I have to say that cutting out and construction was rather like herding cats! The fabric was very fluid and mobile – it shifted about so had to be controlled with lots of pins.
Other than that, construction was fairly straightforward. After stitching the shoulder seams of both outer and lining, I basted the side seams before re-shaping the neckline to mirror the curve of my new White Gold necklace bought by my LSH for my birthday in July.
Re-shaped neckline to mirror the drape of necklace
I trimmed the seam allowance of the bodice with pinking shears and pressed them open and flat. The neckline was under stitched and the self-fabric ties were inserted into the side seams. The armscyes and Empire waistlines were stitched together within the seam allowances. Once the sleeves had been inserted, the seam allowances were then neatened with the overlocker.
The front and back skirt panels were each cut 40 ins wide and I used my standard side seam pocket bag pattern. The skirt panels were gathered at the top using a stitch length of 5.00. The hem frills were cut 12 ins deep by 3 x the width of the fabric of 60 ins. Again I used the ruffler foot to pleat up the frill using a stitch length of 4.00 and pleats every 6 stitches.
Happy accident pattern matching!
Once the dress had been completed I dressed the mannequin for photographs and noticed a very happy accident. Where the front bodice is joined to the skirt there is a floral motif that has been pattern-matched!
Jpeg
Jpeg
This dress will be a delight to wear with my Baked Pink Western Jacket or Blue Denim Western Jacket.
Jpeg
Jpeg
By coincidence the dress also goes very well with my Pink Ponte Jenna cardigan made back in March at the Purple Stitches Sewing Retreat.
After completion of the Fruity Polly #4 dress I had almost 1 metre of a 100% cotton printed with ‘fruit’ remaining. I had originally purchased 4 metres for the grand sum of £21.48 from jjtextiles of Manchester. The ability to get 2 garments from the fabric was a real bonus!
I used my Honeycomb/Saraste-style hack blouse pattern (project #46 – now referred to as ‘Honeysuckle’) for the pattern but due to lack of fabric omitted the frills. Instead to bring a little extra to the design, I added some ric-rac trim from my stash to outline the collar and part of the front button closure.
Ric-rac trim on collar and lapels
I don’t quite know how or understand why, but once cut out and basted together the blouse was much too big! I refined the size by trimming 5/8 ths from each side seam from waist to hem and on the side back and side front panels. Now it is fine.
I used some self bias binding to finish the armholes but as I took only a miniscule seam allowance I find that they are a little tight. I have amended the pattern and may well go back and re-finish the armholes with plain binding as I no longer have sufficient fabric for a self bias binding. I used 5 of the 4-hole Green buttons from my button stash. In truth the blouse could do with an additional button and buttonhole at the top but for now I am using a tiny safety pin! The final touch was top stitch the facing in place and machine a narrow hem.
Honeysuckle #3 Sleeveless Blouse
The blouse will compliment several denim and linen skirts and trousers that I have in my wardrobe as well as co-ordinating with the Ponte cardigan as shown in the dress post # 50.
