I have had the reverse of a new Superking-sized duvet cover ‘lurking’ in my stash for a couple of years now. I previously made the front which had some charming embroidery into a version of Vogue 8577 that I recently upcycled. Now to use up the remainder of the cover I was inspired by pictures on Instagram to make a ‘Hannah’ dress.

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I have previously made two versions of Hannah and was therefore quietly confident regarding fit and construction.

I decided to use the latest re-drafted sleeve that has a full gathered sleeve head and cut it on the bias. I would add a bias cut frill around the neckline as I particularly liked that on my previous Hannah make. The only other change was to lengthen the bodice pieces by 1 inch.

The bodice and sleeves were lined with plain White polyester cotton and the construction of the sleeves was plain sailing.

When it came to the bias frill I mis-calculated the length required. I had measured the front edges of the wrap bodice and the back neckline before multiplying by 1½ times which I thought would be sufficient for the gathers. In a moment of ‘laziness’ I decided to use the ‘ruffler’ foot on my machine instead of traditional gathering. I set the foot to pleat every 6 stitches and stitch length 4.5mm. I then attached the frill to the bodice before stitching the bodice lining right sides together. I tried a fitting. There was insufficient frill to match up once the bodice fronts where they overlapped. I tried to ‘fudge’ it by unpicking then re-setting the pleats on the underwrap but this was still insufficient for a neat overlap. So…. I cut more bias fabric and attached to the end of the frill that was partially sewn. Re-pleated the additional length and then, once again tacked to the neckline and re-attached the bodice lining. Phew.. now it was OK. A reminder for the future though is to ensure that the pleats on the front wrap would be facing down rather than up as they are on this version!

Next I worked on the skirt panels. I attached pocket bags and completed the side seams using French seams. Once the dress was complete there would be no raw edges as the bodice is lined and the hems on the wrap edges and skirt hem were double folded and machine-stitched in place.

To complete the dress I hand stitched the bodice lining to the waistline seam and worked a machine buttonhole at the right hand side seam to facilitate the tie wrapping around to the back.

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I am very pleased with the dress and look forward to wearing it both now with White sneakers or Tan wedge espadrilles, then later in the Autumn with a Tan cardigan, tights and loafers.

Project #52 completed 21^st August 2021

I love the ‘idea’ of the Vogue 8577 dress although it is particularly fabric hungry with its very full skirt.

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I made this version using the front part of an embroidered Super king-size duvet cover bought in the sale at Dunelm a couple of years ago.

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I loved the dress but sadly the bodice is now too small. I did not want to ‘waste’ all the lovely fabric in the skirt so decided to recycle it onto a new bodice with set in sleeves. Those that know me also know that I have an intense dislike of alterations, even calling this project a ‘recycle’ does not really help.

First I had to get unpicking. This was when I discovered how well I had made and finished the original dress. All the skirt and pocket seams were French and inside the lined bodice – pinked or overlocked! It took a good couple of hours with the stitch ripper to separate the bodice from the skirt.

Now to review a bodice pattern that would fit neatly onto the skirt. It would have to be a front button shirt dress or blouse and I definitely wanted sleeves. Because of the fact that I had only pillowcase fronts with the beautiful embroidery the pattern would need to be one with few seams and interruptions. I chose the Harley design that I first made in January this year.

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I measured the panels of the skirt, excluding the gathered sections and adjusted the waist seam of the Harley to match. I recently drafted a new style of sleeve with generous gathers at the sleeve head for the ‘Linda’ dress. As I liked them so much, drafted a similar style sleeve for the ‘Harley’.

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I cut the front bodice pieces from the pillow case fronts taking as much care as possible with the placement of the embroideries. Then I used the backs of the pillowcases (with no embroidery) for the sleeves and a remnant from the original duvet cover for the back bodice, again no embroidery motifs.

I cut lining from Polyester cotton for the bodice and sleeves. Lining the sleeves helps to give them some structure and support for all those gathers at the sleeve head. It also provides for a neat clean seam finish on the hems.

Construction was fairly straightforward and after the first fitting there was just one small adjustment to make – letting out the side seams of the bodice at the waistline by ¼ inch and grading back to 5/8ths at the underarm.

It took a couple of hours to attach the completed the bodice to the skirt plus a deal of ‘finessing’ in respect of marrying up the front edges and facings.

Lastly the finishing tasks were to slip stitch the bodice lining to the waist seam, make buttonholes in the bodice and attach the buttons that had been removed from the original bodice.

All that work has resulted in a lovely new dress with a bodice that fits beautifully. No-one would ever know that this is a recycled project!

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I have a couple more dresses made to the Vogue 8577 hack and they are also too small over the bust. I can see more ‘recycling’ in the future!

Project #51 completed 8^th August 2021

I previously used the front of a superking duvet cover to make a dress detailed as Dunelm Yellow Shirt Dress project #44, now it was the turn of the reverse of that cover to trial make a new design.

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I made a quick sketch and using the bodice block from my ‘Harley’ dress proceeded to draft the new style. First I drafted a square neckline and then repositioned the darts into a Princess seamed bodice, incorporating the new neckline into those seams.

I wanted a completely different short sleeve – using the cut and spread method I increased the sleeve head so that it would have plenty of fullness gathered at the shoulder. Inspired by a costume in a Jane Austen dramatization I also added a frill to sit between the sleeve head and the armscye.

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The skirt would be a simple gathered rectangle with a wide band of the contrast fabric set approximately 5 inches above the hemline and I would possibly add patch pockets, also with the contrast fabric tops. Well, that was the plan!

I cut and stitched a toile using plain White polycotton fabric that would then be used to underline the bodice (the fabric is not as opaque as I would like). I was very pleased with the fit and so proceeded with cutting out the striped fabric. The stripes were mounted on the underlining and the bodice stitched together.

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First hurdle was to work out how I would finish the square neckline: a facing, binding, what? I continued with making up the sleeves which were lined with the White polycotton (makes the curved hem much easier to finish) and inserting them with the little shoulder frills – a delightful design feature.

Still not knowing how I would finish the neckline, I continued making up the skirt and attaching to the bodice. By now I was pretty disenchanted with the dress so there was no point in spending more time inserting the contrast band near the hem. The skirt has a 2inch double turned hem stitched in place by machine blind-hemming. I forgot to add concealed in-seam pockets so would have to add patch pockets which also means some pattern matching will be involved.

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Finally I had to resolve the issue of the neckline. I made a shaped back neck facing to which I added my ‘Carousel’ label plus strips cut on the straight grain to neaten the side edges of the neckline that are slightly ‘off grain’. These were stitched in place, turned to the inside, under-stitched by machine and hand stitched to the underlining. The top straight edge of the neckline was simply turned to the inside and slip stitched to the underlining. If I repeat this bodice/neckline design I will make that centre panel longer so that there is more fabric to turn to the inside.

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I made some long self-fabric ties and top stitched them in place next to the Princess seams on the front bodice. Tied in a bow at the back they give a little more shaping to the dress.

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A good press and I modelled the dress. I was underwhelmed and was thinking of calling it a ‘dis-as-ter’. However, my husband thought it looked nice but no need for patch pockets. Just as well as I am currently still not in love with the finished dress but maybe when a few days have passed it will improve.

Project #50 completed 31^st July 2021