I swear, this is my last Anna dress for now!
But I mean, look at that fabric – can you blame me? That shit was meant to be amirite?
So, this fabric is pretty amazing. I actually bought it way before the pattern was released, with no real project in mind except that I HAD to have it. I found a lonely yardage stashed away at my new work (obviously this was before I started working there, when I was going on weekly visits and soaking up little sewing tricks and tidbits by osmosis) and took home 3 yards.
You can’t really tell in the pictures since I am wearing a slip underneath, but this fabric is quite sheer. I’m not really sure what the content is, but it feels (and sews and presses) like a silk organza, maybe with a tiny bit of poly blended in there. For being a sheer fabric, it has a surprising amount of body (again, like an organza). When I first started sewing it, I wasn’t sure how it would look as this dress -the pleats were sticking straight out over my boobs! Fortunately, they seem to have toned down a little, ha.
I just loove the print! Little brown leaves, covered in some kind of flocked something (I say flocked, but it almostttt feels like super duper short fur. They’re like, hairy, haha. Oh man, I’m making this fabric sound disgusting right now) and then outlined in sparkly black flocked something. To sum it up in one word: magical.
Speaking of things that are magical, I feel like I’ve been using that word a lot lately. I should probably come up with some new adjectives.
For the pattern itself, I didn’t make any changes apart from the tweaks that were there from my last two versions. I sewed the entire dress using french seams, except I did serge the seam allowance next to the zipper (hairy fabric means sheddy fabric, ugh).
Ah! There’s the slip! 🙂
The neckline was a little tricky thanks to the sheer fabric – I didn’t want to use a facing because it would show through, and I didn’t want to line the dress because duhhhh what if I decide to go all undiesonly.com (lol does anyone else remember that website HAHA) and I can’t because the dress has been lined? I decided to bind it with a strip of black silk organza cut on the bias. Boo on me, my silk organza was actually grey, not black (the hell?) so I had to turn it to the inside and that’s where things went a bit… wonky. It’s ok, but it’s not my best work. If you have a hankering to make a sheer Anna, buy matching silk organza and bind the edges like you normally do with bias tape. It makes it easier to miter the V for a nice sharp point. Just a tip!
Also, while we’re being honest with one another, I should let y’all know that I put that tiny bow+button on the neckline to cover my less-than-lovely v-point haha. And of course, now I’m noticing that it’s totally not centered at all and it’s making my eye twitch.
I guess it’s tacky to show my bra straps, but idgaf.
All french seamed and shit
Here you can really see the texture of the fabric. Also, isn’t that button on the bow so cute?! I got it in a box of tiny deco glass buttons. This was the only one, so I’m happy to have found a use for it 🙂
Despite the french seams and fiddly neck binding, this dress came together VERY fast. Which is good, because I needed it for all the weddings I went to this month (three! Seriously, October, what’s up with that?? Don’t worry, tho, I caught 2 out of 3 bouquets… poor Landon HAHA). I mean, yes, duh I have tons of dresses, but I wanted a faaaaall dress. And here she is! And yay!
A couple more things before I let y’all off the hook! One, we have a winner for the ChatterBlossom Giveaway! Random number generator says…
Ding ding ding! Congratulations, Uglybeat! Expect an email from me about right… now 🙂
For the rest of you who need consolation for not winning, may I remind you that the coupon code is still good for the next week! Lladybird15 gets ya 15% off your order through 10/28 🙂
And because everyone loves coupon codes, we’ve also got one for my newest newest sponsor, She’ll Make You Flip! Use the code LLADYBIRD20 to get 20% off your entire purchase through the end of 2013. Meaning, someone buy this 1940s dress pattern before it accidentally ends up in my shopping cart, thanks 😉
Happy Monday, everyone!
This is so pretty! I really like that it’s just a simple slip underneath it too. And congrats on all your good news too!
Oh, that fabric! It’s just beautiful and it looks even more so as an Anna!
This is gorgeous and the leaves seem to match your hair. LOVE your posts and the background in your photos.
DUDE I love this! Such an awesome dress for this season – it’s pretty, but not too pretty you know? It’s got such a richness to it, which is really beautiful! Great job and really need to make a similar slip soon as I am loving the idea of working with sheer fabrics.
Ooooh what a glam Anna! That’s a great version. Looks gorgeous. The sparklyness of the leaves is so fun. I’m impressed by all your seams and neckline (even if you don’t love it). I start to break out in a sweater if my fabric is even somewhat sheer and I worry about facings. Ugh. 😛
(Is it wrong that a little part of me wants to see what that looks like with a white slip underneath just for giggles? lol)
If I had an appropriate white slip, I would post photos for you! Haha!
Love, love, love the new dress!
Your fabric looks like devoré to me. Very 1920s! V pretty
That sounds about right! Thank you!
Ooh lovely, what a pretty fabric 🙂
Gawwwww-jus! I love it.
WOAH. That is beautiful, and such an unusual autumnal dress! LIKE A BOSS, LAUREN.
Pretty!
Well, if there ever were a time to over use the word “magical” this is it! Such a beautiful dress! I love that you left it sheer, just in case, and from the photos at least your finishing doesn’t look terrible. This fabric was really meant to be an Anna!
looks like devore velvet to me lovely
HA. I am laughing at the two bouquets. Poor Landon, indeed!
Dress looks lovely! I came over to the site specifically to see if you had posted pics. Having seen the fabric in person I can attest that it is indeed magical.
Haha yeah, Landon doesn’t find it nearly as funny as I do 😛 HAHA JOKE’S ON HIM I GUESS!
I love this dress! It looks very lovely on you! I’ve been wanting a sheer Anna dress for a while now, but I haven’t found the perfect fabric. You caught the bouquet! Eek!
I caught TWO! I’m on a roll, haha! 😀
The fabric is beautiful, I totally understand why you had to have it!
Lurve!!! And it being sheer and having that lovely texture makes it so awesome. I love the hem too….looks so dainty, I’m wondering if you did a rolled hem. Gee I want to make me some midi Annas, yours are so tempting !
It is a rolled hem 🙂 Not too pretty up close, I’m afraid – all the texture was NOT making my rolled hem foot happy. I would have done it by hand, but I finished this the night before I had to wear it so time was of the essence!
Sexy fabric Lauren!! You go girl!
I was JUST debating whether I should buy the Anna pattern so I could make one for fall, because I think I have the perfect fabric. I came here because I remembered that you had made a couple of Annas, so I thought I’d check them out to help me make my decision, and lo and behold, you’d made ANOTHER Anna, and this one was for fall! This is clearly a sign that I need to get that pattern, so thanks for being awesome and giving me an excuse to buy another pattern!
This is gorgeous! Looks great on you, and the fabric is awesome. I would love for you to link to it in my weekly selfish sewing linkup here: http://laurendahl.com/sew-selfish-episode-2-and-nothing-to-show/ Hope to see you around! 🙂
Such a pretty dress.
Such a lovely dress. That fabric is gorgeous.
It’s sooooo beautiful and faaall-like!
I seriously love this dress. The fabric is just gorgeous and sparkly!
Soooo gorgeous!! Seriously, the Anna dress is the pattern that keeps on giving. Love this in your hairy, sparkly, sheer fabric – which is totally, yes, magical, btw!
Pretty, pretty! I just finished an Anna too! I’m hoping to be blogging it soon. It doesn’t have a patch on this fine version though 😉 you look great and super classy 😀
Another gorgeous Anna dress. I have the pattern but haven’t found the perfect fabric yet. Your fabric is very special and looks great.
Beautiful Anna! The fabric looks very autumny indeed 🙂 And Anna dresses make perfect-going-to-a-wedding-dresses right? I wore mine to a wedding aswell and got loads of compliments!
Oh so pretty! A beautifully subtle homage to fall (I made a dress for Thanksgiving – Canadian – that is much less subtle, lol). I second the (educated) guess that the fabric is devore, with panne velvet – so much better than flocking!
don’t you just love looking at the anna guts when it’s all sheer? i geek out over it!!!
that fabric IS magical, i don’t know what other word you can use. obviously, look at your bouquet ration.
Lookin’ good. I really need to make myself a slip to fit under a few dresses that are far too sheer to wear in public. Or at least any public place that’s not a strip club.
Woah! THREE weddings?! That’s a lot! Everyone I know seems to be getting married at the moment too, but it does give me a great excuse for making dresses (like I need an excuse…!). I love love love this dress and that fabric is perfect autumnal heaven! Such a great chocolatey colour too! The bow look perfect at an angle – very rakish! 😉
Stunning
Ummmmmm you forgot something: #allfrenchseamedandshit 😉 xoxo
Beautiful dress for a beautiful lady!
Ok ok, fine, NEXT TIME I will hash tag the blog post too 😉 haha
Very pretty dress!
It’s lovely! I like the sheer fabric!
This is beautiful! Fits you like a glove, gorgeous fabric. I’ve got such a hankering to make an Anna, you’re certainly reinforcing that.
I think the fabric is burn out or devore, which is lovely stuff. I’ve never figured out what to make with it but this has just told me!
It’s beautiful ❤